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Halep Races Into Third Round, Chinese No.1 Zhang Up Next

Halep Races Into Third Round, Chinese No.1 Zhang Up Next

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

BEIJING, China – No.4 seed Simona Halep overcame Yanina Wickmayer and the worst of the Beijing weather to take her place in the third round of the China Open.

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On a day disrupted by heavy rain, Halep made the most of a brief respite to swat aside Wickmayer, 6-2, 6-2. In the third round she will face Chinese No.1 Zhang Shuai.

After an even start, Halep took control of proceedings with a run of three straight games to close out the opening set. This grip tightened when Wickmayer threw in a couple of errors to surrender serve at the start of the second set, going on to wrap up victory after just 59 minutes.

Next she takes on her conqueror at this January’s Australian Open, Zhang. Unlike Halep, Zhang enjoyed the luxury of playing underneath the roof, eventually seeing off Alison Riske, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(4), in a match lasting over two and a half hours.

Also advancing in the bottom half of the draw was Svetlana Kuznetsova. A semifinalist last week in Wuhan, Kuznetsova continued her good form by beating Misaki Doi, 6-1, 7-5.

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Cunningham Loses Inspirational Battle With MND

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

MELBOURNE, Australia – Angie Cunningham, the WTA’s former Vice President of Player Relations and On-Site Operations, has passed away after a long battle with Motor Neurone Disease.

A staunch campaigner in raising awareness of the disease, Angie died at her Melbourne home on Tuesday, surrounded by family.

As a teenager Angie was a leading junior player, going on to work at the WTA for eight years before moving back to Australia with husband Pat to raise their two children, Maggie and Sophie. In 2012, she was diagnosed with MND, but even as her condition deteriorated she continued the fight.

Not only fight the disease, for which there is no known cause, or effective treatment, but also to raise funds and awareness for other sufferers.

Serena Williams, Martina Navratilova, Rennae Stubbs, Pat Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt were among those who rallied behind the cause, many of whom took to social media to mourn the passing of an inspirational figure in the tennis community.

Motor Neurone Disease is a group of neurological diseases that affects the voluntary muscles in the body, which control activities like speaking, walking, swallowing and general movement. It progresses over time, causing debilitating disability and eventually death. The life expectancy is two to three years.

There is no known cause for the disease, although many sufferers are athletes. In the US the disease is also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, after the famous baseball player who died from it.

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