The top-seeded Halep looked to be on a way to a routine victory over the world No.30 Putintseva, as she comfortably won the first set 6-2 and went 2-0 up in the second, when her Kazakh opponent, who received treatment on her lower back in-between sets, decided that she couldn’t go on.
Right after the match, Halep called her coach Darren Cahill and her team to come to the court and do some more hitting.