"But she gives me some advice like 'no more pressure, no pressure, you don't have to put pressure on yourself. Because if you have pressure, you are not relaxed and you cannot play your best'.
"So I speak with her about these things, and she helps me." Ion Tiriac is in Paris watching Halep’s matches and, as advisor to the Madrid Open, has organised tournament wild cards for his compatriot, while former world number one Ilie Nastase has also been on hand in the French capital. "I want to thank them, because they are close to me, and of course they give me more confidence," Halep said after her 6-3 6-0 defeat of Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor on Saturday. The victory took the 22-year-old into the last 16 for the third successive grand slam. Halep is one of the smaller women on tour but her intensity, anticipation and superb defence makes for a powerful package and she is now the top surviving seed after the exits of 2013 winner Serena Williams, Li Na and Agnieszka Radwanska. Her match against Sloane Stephens, the American 15th seed, could be one of the battles of the tournament as neither woman gives an inch, and the winner will deserve to be considered one of the favourites for the title. They have played three times, with Halep winning their only match on clay, in 2012.
Stephens took the other two including a 6-1 6-1 thrashing at the 2013 Australian Open in their last clash. Nastase was quoted as saying before the tournament that he believed Halep was ready to win a grand slam although Tiriac, while agreeing that she had made huge advances over the past year, thought she still lacked the experience to take a major title. "It is not easy to say that I will play semi-finals or finals. I just take it day by day and match by match," said Halep, who won six titles from six finals last year. "I played against her (Stephens) in Australia, I think, and she beat me very fast. Now I think I'm more prepared."
(Reporting by Robert Woodward; editing by Josh Reich)
Share
