NEW YORK _ After two straight years of going one-and-done at the U.S. Open, No. 4 women's seed Simona Halep was relieved to survive her first-round match.
Halep, the reigning Wimbledon champion, was pressed by Nicole Gibbs of Venice, Calif., on Tuesday but pulled away in the third set for a 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 victory at Louis Armstrong Stadium. "Definitely I feel lighter now. I feel much better that I could win a match finally in this tournament," she said. "I'm moving well. I just need a little bit of, you know, mentally confidence."
Gibbs underwent surgery in May after a growth in her mouth was diagnosed as a cancerous tumor and she acknowledged she hasn't fully regained her strength or the weight she lost. Fatigue and Halep's skills were too much for Gibbs in the third set, but simply getting here was a victory.
"I think I've always known that I'm a fighter. But to be through the journey I've been through over the past few months, to land myself on Armstrong playing against one of the best in the game, and going the distance, I think that really just reinforces it for me," she said. "I'm going to take a lot of inspiration from this and try to carry it forward into what's left in my year and my tennis career."
