Gale Halep expels Sorribes from the Magic Box

Simona Halep made landfall again in Madrid two years later. This Friday he defeated Sara Sorribes (6-0 and 7-5 in one hour and 24 minutes) in his debut at Mutua, a tournament that he already won in 2016 and 2017. It was a match in which Sorribes, who faced the event with the best ranking of his career (46th), showed two faces against the third seed and number three on the list, a regular tenant on the Manolo Santana court.

The double fault with which she started was a harbinger of what was to come in the first set: three breaks against and six games in a row for a donut in the first set of the Romanian, who entered the game with great intensity, hitting deep and shortening exchanges that he knew did not benefit him against a very rebellious player.

The second sleeve was another story. Sorribes managed to connect his first winning shots to return a new break at the start, but the threat of reaction was quickly appeased with two consecutive breaks from his rival. When all the fish seemed sold, he pulled a break from his sleeve for 5-3, saved two match points against for 5-4 and plunged Halep into a sea of ​​doubts, who delivered his serve again . But the Romanian already has a lot of silence in these struggles and she knew how to rebuild herself with two games in a row, one to the rest and another to the service, to sentence the pulse.

Second defeat because in Sorribes’ private face-to-face against her (the first was at Roland Garros last year), who arrives at the appointment with the longest active streak in weeks in the world top-10, 359. “Thank you all for coming. It has been a great difference with other tournaments that we have experienced lately. It has been a great atmosphere. This is like my second home,” said Constanza’s, already overcome the first hurdle in his aspirations to get the tenth title of his career on brick dust.