French Open 2019 – Simona Halep rallies to reach third round at Magda Linette’s expense
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Updated 30/05/2019 at 19:59 GMT
Reigning champion Simona Halep overcame a valiant challenge from Magda Linette to reach the third round of the French Open.
Romania's Simona Halep celebrates after winning against Poland's Magda Linette during their women's singles second round match on day five of The Roland Garros 2019 French Open tennis tournament in Paris on May 30, 2019.
Image credit: Getty Images
Halep missed three match-point opportunities before losing the second set from 5-3 up, but recovered to win 6-4 5-7 6-3 and book a match with the winner of 27th seed Lesia Tsurenko’s clash with Aleksandra Krunic.
In a first set littered with breaks, Halep converted three of her 10 opportunities to ultimately take it 6-4.
The Romanian had failed to serve it out in the eighth game, but managed to do so at the second time of asking.
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Reigning champion Halep books third round spot
The second set saw Halep look far more assured on serve, to begin with at least, and she did not offer her opponent a single break opportunity before she brought up match point on Linette's serve.
However, Linette not only saved the break point but then broke Halep when the third seed was serving for the match - but only after saving two match points.
Three match points squandered, Halep was then broken again as Linette forced a decider in stunning fashion, having won four games on the spin.
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Simona Halep: I was not feeling great but gave it everything
Halep managed to compose herself and break Linette in the first and third games of the third set to move 3-0 up.
The pair then traded breaks, but once more when serving for the match Halep crumbled, going down 0-40 before Linette broke to 15.
Halep bounced back immediately however to win the next game on Linette’s serve and book her spot in the third round.
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