Tennis Bad Homburg Open Angelique Kerber, Simona Halep advance to quarterfinals

Simona Halep built on the momentum of her grass-court season after reaching the semifinals at the Birmingham Open last week. The 30-year-old Romanian won 91% of the points on the first serve and 56% of the points on the second serve compared to 54% of the points on the first serve and 31% on the second serve by her Slovenian opponent.

Simona Halep fired four aces and saved five of the ten break points she faced to secure a quarterfinal spot in Homburg. The Romanian will lock horns with Amanda Anisimova in a quarterfinal clash on June 23. Amanda Anisimova won against Ann Li of America 6-0, 6-2 to advance to the last eight.

In the other match, defending champion Angelique Kerber of Germany defeated Lucia Bronzetti of Italy in the second round of the Bad Homburg Open to book a quarterfinal spot. The victory improved her record at the tournament to 7-0 since the event's inaugural edition in 2021.

German tennis star Angelique Kerber fired five aces, saved three of the four break points she faced and committed just one double fault. In contrast, Lucia Bronzetti fired two aces, committed three double faults and failed to save any of the four break points she faced. 

Angelique Kerber will face Alizé Cornet of France in a quarterfinal clash on June 23.

Darren Cahill: Simona Halep has earned the honour to open play on Wimbledon Centre Court

Simona Halep won the final against Serena Williams 6-2, 6-2 to win her maiden Wimbledon title in 2019. The winners are traditionally given the honour of playing at the centre court at Wimbledon. However, the 2020 edition of the event was cancelled, and she did get the opportunity to compete in the 2021 Wimbledon due to an injury. Therefore Ash Barty was given the prestigious centre court spot.

Ashleigh Barty announced her retirement from tennis in March 2022. Thus the honour of playing on the centre court will be given to someone else. 

Darren Cahill believes that Simona Halep should be the one to play on the centre court. He said, "This should be Simona Halep. Covid wiped out the 2020 championships & unable to play last year due to injury, so Ash Barty was given the honour."