'I feel great' - Simona Halep demolishes Paula Badosa to reach last-16 at Madrid Open

Simona Halep cruised into the last-16 of the Madrid Open after an emphatic 6-3 6-1 win over Spain's Paula Badosa. In her first tournament since she started working with Serena Williams' coach Patrick Mouratoglou, Halep built on her opening round win against Zhang Shuai with a dominant performance against the tournament's No. 2 seed, wrapping up the victory in one hour and 16 minutes.

Ad/> Halep, who has won two titles in Madrid, will play either USA's Coco Gauff or Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva in the third round. ATP MadridA hero’s welcome for Nadal, and a heart-to-heart with Halep – Madrid Open diaryYESTERDAY AT 21:42 «I feel great, I felt I was playing some good tennis and I'm really happy about it,» Halep said after her best ranking win on clay. «She is very good at this moment.

She is number two in the world so it's just confidence. She was playing great but I believed I had my chance so I gave everything I had. »It's a pleasure and an honour to have Patrick in my box as a coach.

We are working very hard on some things and as I see I am playing very well every match. I'm just focusing on getting better and getting stronger." /> Halep got off to a fast start as she broke in the opening game on her first break point with a confident forehand winner. Badosa battled hard in the fourth game with stronger groundstrokes and she was able to convert her third break point, when Halep fired long, to get back on serve.