Quick-fire Halep sees off Schiavone

LONDON (Reuters) – A clinical Simona Halep wasted no time in reaching the third round at Wimbledon on Thursday, cruising past Italian veteran Francesca Schiavone 6-1 6-1 in just over an hour.

Showing glimpses of the form that took her to an All England Club semi-final in 2014 and to world number two last year, the fifth-seeded Romanian had too much power and court craft for her 111th-ranked opponent.

Halep controlled much of the play with pinpoint groundstrokes, dominating the baseline rallies and often finding winning passing shots when her 36-year-old opponent varied her game by coming to the net.

Troubled in recent months by an Achilles injury that forced her withdrawal from the Birmingham event in mid-June, Halep was playing only her second grasscourt match of the season.

Her record at Wimbledon remains mixed. With the exception of 2014, she has previously got no further than the second round in four attempts.

Halep next faces 26th-ranked Kiki Bertens, who this month became the first Dutchwoman in almost half a century to reach the French Open semi-finals.

(Reporting by John Stonestreet, editing by Ed Osmond)