Former Australian Open finalist Simona Halep withstood a precarious fourth round test to fight through against Belgium’s Elise Mertens 6-4 6-4, booking her place in the last eight.
The world number three joins Australian top seed Ash Barty as the only other top four-ranked player in the quarter-finals.
Halep, the reigning Wimbledon champion, rode a mid-match surge to snatch six straight games, clinching the first set and an early double-break in the second set.
The relentless power from Mertens, who made the semifinals two years ago in her breakout 2018 season, proved problematic, as she steered the second set back with some aggressive shotmaking.
However, her waywardness proved costly, as she struck 36 winners and 38 unforced errors for the match, compared to Halep’s decidedly more positive ratio of 21 and 8.
Shot of the match from @Simona_Halep for the 2-0 lead!#AO2020 | #AusOpen | @espn | @Channel9 pic.twitter.com/HkfwOfoDRT
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 27, 2020
Sealing the match with a driving fist pump, Halep said she needed to rediscover her composure in the latter stages of the match.
“I needed to stay focussed in the end. I got a little bit nervous at 4-3 but I was strong enough to win the match,” Halep told Nine post-match.
“Actually I had to calm down myself because when I get a little bit nervous I get crazy on court. So I had to stay cool.”
The result reverses their previous meeting in the final of the WTA-Premier level Doha Open, where Mertens stormed back from a 6-3 2-0 deficit to hoist her most lucrative career title.
To punch her ticket to the semi-finals, Halep will need to face either Polish teenager Iga Swiatek or 28th seed Anett Kontaveit.
The post Australian Open: Simona Halep storms into quarter-finals appeared first on The New Daily.
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