Simona Halep defeats Gabriela Ruse to qualify for quarter finals at Melbourne Summer Set 1

Simona Halep defeated Gabriela Ruse, 6-2, 6-1, on Thursday, in a Romanian duel, in the round of 16 of the Melbourne Summer Set 1 (WTA 250) tennis tournament, equipped with total prizes of 239,477 US dollars, Agerpres reports.

Halep (30 years old, WTA's 20), seed no. 2 at this tournament, sealed her victory after 61 minutes of playing.

The former world leader had also clearly won her first match against Ruse (24 years old, WTA's 87th), last year, in the first round of the Transylvania Open, 6-1, 6-2.

Ruse won only 12 points on her service, so she couldn't deal with Simona Halep.

Halep and Gabriela Ruse played together in the doubles event, the pair losing to Bernarda Pera/Katerina Siniakova in the first round of the competition.

Halep won a cheque worth 5,800 US dollars and 60 WTA points for reaching this far in the competition. In the quarterfinals, she will play against Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland, who defeated Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove (Netherlands), 6-3, 6-0, in the round of 16.

Simona Halep won her only direct match against Golubic (29 years old, WTA's 43rd), in 2018, in the Fed Cup, 6-3, 1-6, 6-1.