Simona halep out into #1round #australianopen2016 .

We like Ian Cohen. Really, we do. He is a nice bloke, a good pro and he is the man in charge of the microphone at Margaret Court Arena.

But on Tuesday night, any casual observer would have thought that he was the interrogator from hell, a tormentor so fierce as to make the Spanish Inquisition look like a litter of fluffy kittens. And all he asked Zhang Shuai after her opening match was: “This is your first Grand Slam win, tell us how you did it?” Well, that was it. Zhang was in floods of tears. Then again, so was her coach, Liu Shuo. He, poor fella, was so overcome, he had to be comforted by the punters sitting around him.

Zhang, you see, had just beaten Simona Halep 6-4 6-3. That was a story in itself – the world No.133 dusting the world No.2 in straight sets in the first round of Australian Open 2016. But that was not what had reduced Zhang to a gibbering wreck. No, our heroine had spent the last nine years schlepping around the Grand Slam circuit while failing to win a match. She had made her way into a main draw 14 times and never once got a sniff of a win. She had not won so much as a set in the majors since Wimbledon 2011. 

Halep vs Zhang. Order of play. 19 jan 2016

[2]  Simona halew (ROU #2) vs. [Q] Shuai Zhang (CHN # 132) 

Head-to-head: Halep leads, 1-0
Key Stat: Halep entered 2014 with a 10-14 record at the majors. She's gone 27-8 at Grand Slams in the last two seasons.

Despite being troubled by left Achilles soreness off and on for the last two weeks, No. 2 seed Halep told reporters over the weekend that she's in good stead. "I feel good now," she asserted. "I played many days without pain. So I feel ready to start and hopefully to be healthy till the end." If that's the case then Halep could very well make a deep run in Melbourne. The 24-year-old freely admits it is on her to-do list. "I think to win a Grand Slam, I don't know if it's going to happen this year, but this is my biggest goal," she told reporters on Sunday. Halep's opponent, Shuai Zhang, will certainly have her hands full with the world No. 2. She enters Melbourne with a 0-14 record in Grand Slam main draw matches, having won just two sets.

La lucha por el número 1. Safina cedió a su propia presión.

Safina desesperada con Zeljko Krajan.
Zhang_Safina 7-5 and 7-6.
La china Shuai Zhang deroortó a la rusa Dinara Safina, (N ° 1 del mundo ) en dos sets durante la segunda ronda del Abierto de China el Lunes, 5 de octubre 2009.
Zhang tardó dos horas y seis minutos en vencer el partido y nunca permitió que Safina tomase el control del partido.
Safina cometió 6 dobles falta sen la primera manga.
Esto unido a un juego errático de la rusa le llevó a ceder por 7-5.
Safina, parecía más segura en el comienzo del segundo set, ganando tres de los cuatro primeros juegos.
Pero cometió otra vez siete dobles faltas en el segundo set, y Zhang remontó, impulsado por el público a grito de "Jia you! Jia you!" -
En chino significa "Vamos!"
"Creo que he hecho un gran trabajo de animarme y poner toda mi confianza y con el apoyo del público", dijo Zhang.
Se sintió frustrada y nerviosa Safina, golpeando su raqueta en el suelo.
Zhang se mantuvo con calma, ganando cinco de los siguientes ocho juegos para forzar un tie-break.
"Yo considero esto como un partido regular", explicó Zhang.
"No me considero tan importante".
" Zhang ganó los cuatro primeros puntos en el segundo tie-break y ganar el partido por 7-5 y 7-6 (5).
Safina queda eliminada y junto a Venus Williams, la cabeza No. 3, y Caroline Wozniacki, la cabeza No. 5, fueron igualmente eliminadas en el inicio del torneo.