Halep’s alarmingly weak scoreline is mostly due to her horrible conversion of points on second serve, as the Romanian won just 11%, i.e. two of 18 points. Kasatkina played almost an error-free match, while Halep won none of her four service games in the first set. It was only in the beginning of the second set that Halep managed to hold her serve, but that early resurgence was all the pressure imposed on Kasatkina’s brilliance.
Tomorrow Halep celebrates her 26th birthday, but she’ll not be in the best mood, as this loss came in her first match since falling to Maria Sharapova in the opening round of the US Open.