So much for a bad ankle causing the demise of No.1-seeded Simona Halep at this year’s Australian Open. Just two days after suffering a pretty gruesome ankle injury the Romanian was back at it, and she looked strong in taking down Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard, 6-2, 6-2.
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Bouchard didn’t do herself a lot of favors by going for too much too soon and pouring in a fair share of unforced errors, but Halep held her own from a movement perspective and didn’t show any signs of injury during the 65-minute affair. That’s a great sign for the top seed going forward and she’ll need her ankle to be strong when she faces American Lauren Davis, a player that can keep the ball in the court and run with the best of them, in the third round.
Halep defeated Davis in their only previous meeting, but that was four years ago at Indian Wells.
“I know she can be pretty dangerous,” Halep said. “She's moving well.”
As for Halep, she’s still a tad compromised when it comes to her injured left ankle.
“I still feel pain,” Halep told reporters on Thursday night. “Also I couldn't practice much. But during the match, I just forgot about it. I had a very tight tape. I could move. The most important thing is that I could play my game not thinking about the ankle.”
Halep says that she’s not feeling any pressure, thanks to her injury. If there is any positive effect from the injury, it’s that it has taken her mind off the No.1 ranking and her chances of finally breaking through and winning a major. Could it help Halep in the end?
Maybe. Maybe not.
“Yeah, for sure I'm not 100 percent,” she said. “But I don't feel pressure. I feel a little bit more relaxed because I have nothing to lose. I'm just trying to stay focused on my game, nothing else. Definitely to be careful with the movement on the court, not forcing anything. I'm just going there and feeling the ball.”
It was by no means an easy afternoon for Stan Wawrinka on Day 2 of the Asralian Open, but the Swiss star cleared a major hurdle by defeating Ricardis Berankis in four sets to win his first match since Wimbledon of last season.
Wawrinka lost the plot a bit after jumping out to a two sets to love lead but managed to regroup and battle back from 3-0 down in set four to avoid a fifth set.
“Was a tough one in all aspect of the game, of the energy,” he said after his 6-3, 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(2) victory over the Lithuanian. “But in general, I'm really happy to get through a match like that, to fight the way I did today, to win the match like this.”
Wawrinka, who underwent knee surgery last summer and spent two months on crutches, says his surgically repaired knee help up as well as he could expect.
“As I say, I still have some pain,” he said. “It depends the way I'm moving, how I push on it. In general, it's going the right direction. That's the best news. To see that the knee is keeping it, that I can play a match with the stress, back being tight, with hesitation. The knee that doesn't move even after three hours, so that's great.”
Wawrinka will square off with American Tennys Sandgren in the second round.