Halep knocks out veteran Tanasugarn

Top seed Simona Halep cleared her biggest hurdle to become just one of two seeds remaining in the singles quarter-finals at the 14th Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge at the Habtoor Grand Beach Resort and Spa here yesterday. Halep played a perfect tactical match to cruise to a 6-4, 6-3 win against red-hot Tamarine Tanasugarn to be joined by sixth-seeded Belgian Arantxa Rus who beat wild card Conny Perrin 6-7 (4), 7-5, 6-4 to make the last eight stage of this $75,000 (Dh275,250) prize tournament. Considered one of the pre-tournament favourites following her win at the $75,000 Toyota Cup in Tokyo last Saturday, Tanasugarn caved in to the top seed, who showed a rare consistency in finishing off her points before the veteran Thai actually settled in. This ploy worked perfectly for the 20-year-old from Romania as she took the first set 6-4 with a break. And in the second she recorded a couple of breaks to shut out set and match 6-3 to set up a quarter-final meeting against Olga Govortsova yesterday. "I was fully aware that her confidence was high following her win last weekend. So my prime objective was to play my serves in such a way that I could open the court and then start making her move," Halep explained. The Romanian top seed, currently ranked No53, is returning to the circuit following a lengthy break after an Achilles tendon injury and a stomach infection. "I just played one tournament in Luxembourg after the US Open, so I was pleasantly surprised with how I executed my game plan," the 20-year-old said. "She [Tanasugarn] came here with a lot of confidence, so I had to be extra careful. But it is going to get even hard now with just the better players remaining in the fray now. My plan is to stay focused and take one match at a time," Halep added. "She [Halep] played well and she came up with some amazing volleys. She deserved to win," Tanasugarn said of her opponent. However faring not so well were the remaining five seeded players who had been left in the competition. Results: Women's singles (second round): Arantxa Rus bt Conny Perrin 6-7 (4), 7-5, 6-4; Regina Kulikova bt Mathilde Johansson 7-5, 7-6 (4); Urszula Radwanska bt Alexandra Dulgheru 6-3, 6-1; Akgul Amanmuradova bt Nina Bratchikova 7-5, 6-3; Olga Govortsova bt Alexandra Cadantu 6-2, 6-3; Simona Halep bt Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-4, 6-3; Kristina Mladenovic bt Evgenia Rodina 4-6, 6-1, 6-4; Noppawan Lertcheewakarn bt Bojana Jovanovski 7-5, 6-4.