Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, currently third in the WTA ranking, criticised the schedule of the matches at the Australian Open and asked the organisers to program women’s singles matches before those in the men’s competition, in the evening, according to Mediafax.

She made this statement after she had to wait until almost 12:00 in the evening, on Wednesday, to play against Australian Jarmila Gajdosova. This was because the match between Rafael Nadal and American Tim Smyczek, which was scheduled on the same arena (the Rod Laver Arena), took four hours and 12 minutes.

Simona Halep said that the women should play before the men in the evening schedule, as the women’s matches take three hours at most while men’s matches can span to up to five hours. Women play best out of three sets while men play best out of five sets in Grand Slam tournaments.

The organisers seem to have listened to Halep, as they programmed Russian Maria Shaparova’s match against Kazakh Zarina Diyas, on Friday evening ahead of Rafa Nadal’s match against Israeli Dudi Sela.

Simona Halep plays in Friday’s afternoon session (Thursday to Friday night in Romania) against American Bethanie Mattek-Sands, for a place in the fourth round of the tournament.

Australian Open: Romanian Simona Halep cruises to the third round, Irina Begu qualifies as well

editor@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Australina Open Facebook page)