Australian Open 2020: Simona Halep seals dominant win over Harriet Dart; 2019 semi-finalist Danielle Collins eliminated

Melbourne: Danielle Collins is out of the Australian Open in the second round a year after making her Grand Slam breakthrough with a run to the semi-finals at Melbourne Park. The 26th-seeded American bowed out Thursday with a 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 loss to Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan. Collins had never won a match in five tries at Grand Slam tournaments until her surge to the final four in Australia in 2019. She won five matches in a row to get that far, including upsets of three seeded opponents. Simona Halep eases past Dart Wimbledon champion Simona Halep has beaten British qualifier Harriet Dart 6-2, 6-4 to advance to the third round. Halep ended 2019 ranked fourth, her sixth consecutive year-end top-five finish. She will next play either Danielle Collins or Yulia Putintseva. [caption id=“attachment_7947301” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Simona Halep beats Britain’s Harriet Dart during their second-round singles match at the Australian Open. AP[/caption] It was a difficult start to the day with showers and with outdoor courts that needed to be washed with high-pressure hoses because of overnight rain combined with a dust storm to the northwest of the city. The weather improved and organizers were getting through the bulk of singles matches, although 13 doubles matches had to be postponed. Kerber sees out wildcard entry Priscilla Hon Angelique Kerber is through to the third round after beating Australian wild-card entry Priscilla Hon 6-3, 6-2. At Melbourne Park in 2016, Kerber became the first German woman since Steffi Graf in 1999 to win a Grand Slam singles title. She won the US Open later that year and Wimbledon in 2018. Kerber will next play either Svetlana Kuznetsova or Camila Giorgi. CiCi Belis upsets Karolina Muchova It’s been two full years since CiCi Bellis was healthy enough to participate in a Grand Slam tournament. And now, four arm operations later, the 20-year-old Californian is back — and has beaten a seeded opponent to reach the Australian Open’s third round. Bellis eliminated No. 20 Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-4 on Thursday. Bellis was a teen prodigy, winning a US Open match at age 15 and reaching No. 35 in the rankings at 17. All the time away from the tour because of injuries has her at No. 600 right now, but she was able to get into the draw at Melbourne Park via the protected ranking rule. Karolina Pliskova breezes past Laura Siegemund Second-seeded Karolina Pliskova continued her strong recent form at the Australian Open by advancing to the third round with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Laura Siegemund. “I’m happy to get through — this was an ugly match for me,” she said. Last year at Melbourne Park, Pliskova lost to eventual champion Naomi Osaka in the semifinals after saving four match points to beat Serena Williams in the quarter-finals. The rain at Melbourne Park has abated and play is underway on about half the outdoor courts after they had to be washed down due to an overnight dust storm. Heavy showers delay play in outside courts Rain and an overnight dust storm from the northwest of Melbourne is playing havoc with the Australian Open schedule. First heavy morning showers delayed play on all outside courts. That combined with an earlier dust storm left a layer of red on some outside courts, making them unplayable in the morning. Melbourne Park staff used high-pressure hoses to clean court surfaces before light rain showers began falling in the early afternoon, forcing officials to close the roofs at the three main arenas. The rain became heavier later, and suspended play in the only two matches that had started on outside courts. In the first completed match at Rod Laver Arena, two-time Grand Slam singles champion Garbine Muguruza beat Ajla Tomljanovic 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. Bencic, Vekic advance to third round Sixth-seeded Belinda Bencic and Donna Vekic have advanced to the third round at Melbourne Park. Bencic beat 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko 7-5, 7-5 while the 19th-seeded Vekic defeated Alize Cornet 6-4, 6-2. Heavy morning rain showers delayed play on the outside courts from at least 90 minutes to up to three hours. Play began on schedule as well on the other two venues with retractable roofs — Rod Laver Arena and Margaret Court Arena. Top-seeded Rafael Nadal was scheduled to play the second night match at Rod Laver Arena against Federico Delbonis. Local hope Nick Kyrgios was also set to play a night match at Melbourne Arena against French veteran Gilles Simon. The rain stopped late morning and the weather is mostly cloudy with gusting winds. With inputs from Agencies.