Playing her first match at Wimbledon since lifting the Venus Rosewater Dish three years ago, Simona Halep defeated Karolina Muchova, 6-3, 6-2, in her 2022 opener.
Muchova was arguably the toughest first-round draw for any of the seeds—not only was she ranked in the Top 20 just last year before an abdominal injury kept her off the tour for upwards of six months, but she reached the quarterfinals in her only two previous main draw appearances at Wimbledon, in 2019 and 2021.
But Halep ripped 16 winners to just 9 unforced errors and never faced a break point to cruise past the Czech in 65 minutes on No. 1 Court.
The Romanian has now won 14 of her last 15 matches on grass.
HALEP ON GRASS SINCE START OF 2019 WIMBLEDON (14-1):
d. Sasnovich in 2019 Wimbledon 1st Rd, 6-4, 7-5
d. Buzarnescu in 2019 Wimbledon 2nd Rd, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2
d. Azarenka in 2019 Wimbledon 3rd Rd, 6-3, 6-1
d. Gauff in 2019 Wimbledon 4th Rd, 6-3, 6-3
d. Zhang in 2019 Wimbledon QFs, 7-6 (4), 6-1
d. Svitolina in 2019 Wimbledon SFs, 6-1, 6-3
d. S.Williams in 2019 Wimbledon F, 6-2, 6-2
d. Tsurenko in 2022 Birmingham 1st Rd, 6-1, 6-4
d. Dart in 2022 Birmingham 2nd Rd, 6-3, 6-2
d. Boulter in 2022 Birmingham QFs, 6-4, 6-1
l. to Haddad Maia in 2022 Birmingham SFs, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4
d. Siniakova in 2022 Bad Homburg 1st Rd, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
d. Zidansek in 2022 Bad Homburg 2nd Rd, 6-0, 6-3
d. Anisimova in 2022 Bad Homburg QFs, 6-2, 6-1
w/o to Andreescu in 2022 Bad Homburg SFs (w/neck injury)
d. Muchova in 2022 Wimbledon 1st Rd, 6-3, 6-2
Halep will face 2013 Wimbledon semifinalist Kirsten Flipkens in the second round.