MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) Top-seeded Simona Halep cruised to a 6-2, 6-2 win over Eugenie Bouchard to advance to the third round of the Australian Open.
With temperatures down a few degrees from the torrid 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) earlier in the day, Halep helped gain some revenge from the last - and only - time the pair met in a Grand Slam tournament.
At Wimbledon in 2014, the Canadian beat Halep in the semifinals before advancing to the final, where she lost to Petra Kvitova.
Her strong run early that year - semifinals at the Australian and French Opens before Wimbledon - helped propel Bouchard to No. 5 in the rankings. She has since had a major slide and is now ranked 112th.
