By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, May 28, 2019

 

"I feel like I have improved a lot in this year since I won here. I'm a different person. I'm a better person," said Simona Halep after her Roland Garros first-round win.

Photo credit: Getty

Skid marks from Simona Halep's Nikes streaked the service box highlighting how quickly the reigning Roland Garros champion closes ground—and how comfortably she cruises Court Philippe Chatrier.

Halep withstood a choppy second set and looked like a surfer riding a winning wave in the third launching her title defense with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 win over over Ajla Tomljanovic.

More: Osaka Keeps Slam Streak Alive

"It was a great match," Halep told the media in Paris. "The level was great, and actually her level in the second set was really high. So I had to be focused more on myself to find out what I have to play better in the third set to be able to win. And then I just started to feel that if I make her move, it's a little bit better for me, so I did that.

"Of course it was not easy because of the emotions, the pressure, but it's always nice to go back on that court."

It was Halep's eighth straight win in Paris.

The match reinforced the strengths Halep brings to her first Grand Slam title defense—and revealed the challenges she faces in her quest to become the first woman since Justin Henin in 2007 to defend Paris.

When the third-seeded Romanian can step in, take the ball on the rise and play sharper angles, she can carve up opponents in running rallies. Halep remains the best clay-court mover in the field and has shown the skills to extend points winning 14 of her last 15 matches in Paris. But when the depth of Tomljanovic's flat strikes displaced the defending champion in the second set, the 5'6" Romanian can be vulnerable to power players.

Court Chatrier has been a pressure-cooker for Grand Slam champions as Serena Williams bounced back from an atrocious first set to dispatch Vitalia Diatchenko yesterday.

Today, world No. 1 Naomi Osaka withstood a major scare on Court Chatrier.

Anna Karolina Schmiedlova served for the match twice and was two points from a historic upset before Osaka battled back from the brink of catastrophy in a three-set comeback.

Facing her own stress test, Halep kept a calm head and showed fast feet flying out to a 5-0 lead in the decider squeezing the life out of Tomljanovic's comeback hopes.

Halep said sustaining her current good health and positive attitude are coping with the pressure of defending a major.

"I need to be calm," Halep said. "I need to be really focused on my game just not thinking about the opponents and not thinking about the result.

"I feel like I have improved a lot in this year since I won here. I'm a different person. I'm a better person. And now what it comes, it comes as a bonus. So I'm trying just to give my best every time I step on the court."

Though she believes she's a better person this year, Halep hasn't been as productive of a player this season.

The 27-year-old Romanian hasn't won a title since edging Sloane Stephens in an electric Montreal final last August.

A year ago, Halep won Shenzhen, was runner-up to Caroline Wozniacki at the Australian Open, contested semifinals in Indian Wells and Doha and was Rome runner-up prior to her breakthrough in Paris.

This year, Halep has played two finals—Doha and Madrid— in eight tournaments and sports a 3-2 record vs. Top 10 opponents.

Still, her sniper return, fluid court coverage, ability to extend points and drive daggers down the line should serve her well if she sustains the calm she showed at crunch time today.



Forced to a third set today, Halep won 15 of 24 points played on the Australian's serve in the decider advancing to a second-round meeting vs. Magda Linette.

Halep has reached the finals at three of the last five Roland Garros appearances, bowing to Maria Sharapova in a tense three-setter in 2014, squandering a one-set lead losing in three set to 47th-ranked Jelena Ostapenko in 2017 before rallying from a set down to subdue Stephens claiming her first Grand Slam singles crown in Paris last June.

Describing herself as "a different person" in her Paris return, Halep is hoping winning a major will help diminish impending pressure of defending one.

"Different, for sure. I have touched the No. 1 place two times the end of the year," Halep said. "I have the Grand Slam. So everything, it comes now, as I said, it's a bonus.

"And I see tennis different. I see my life different. So I'm happy about everything it's happening, and my main goal now is just to see how good I can be this year and maybe few more years."