HALEP ON HER WAY
THE world’s top two players will clash in the Australian Open women’s final after Simona Halep and Caroline Wozniacki set up a mouth-watering climax to the season’s first grand slam at Melbourne Park.
Wozniacki exorcised the demons of her harrowing 2011 semi-final loss to Li Na with a 6-3, 7-6 (7-2) triumph over Elise Mertens yesterday before an heroic Halep staved off two match points to deny Angelique Kerber 6-3, 4-6, 9-7 in one of the most gripping last-four showdowns seen in years.
Halep and Wozniacki will both be chasing an elusive first grand slam triumph tomorrow night – as well as duelling for the world’s top ranking. Remarkably, as if destined to meet in the winner-takes-all shootout, Halep and Wozniacki also both saved match points in huge first-week frights to keep their Open dreams alive.
Wozniacki battled back from 5-1 and 40-15 down in the second set of her second-round Houdini act against Croatian Jana Fett before Halep fought off three match points in her epic third-round triumph over American Lauren Davis. The Halep-Davis encounter stretched almost three-andthree-quarter hours, with their 48 games played equalling the Melbourne Park record for a women’s match at the Open.
Halep has also carried an ankle injury throughout the tournament. But the big-hearted Romanian showed no signs of hindrance or discomfort in an extraordinary display of courage under fire on Rod Laver Arena yesterday. After blowing a pair of match points in the 10th game of the deciding set against Kerber, the exhausted top seed looked down and out trailing 6-5, 40-15 on the German’s deadly left-handed serve. But, with some remarkable scrambling and counterpunching, Halep rallied to turn the rollercoaster semi-final around and finally subdue Kerber after two hours and 20 minutes of high-quality and tension-filled tennis.
The loss was Kerber’s first of the year after the former world No.1 and 2016 Open champion rolled through the Hopman Cup and Sydney International undefeated and dropped only one set en route to the semi-finals in Melbourne. “Definitely it was very tough. I’m shaking now. I’m really emotional to win this match,” Halep said.
“I knew it was going to very tough and that she is a very tough opponent.”
Twice a runner-up at Roland Garros, in 2014 and 2017, Halep will be opposing a two-time US Open bridesmaid after Wozniacki earlier also progressed to her maiden Melbourne Park decider with a straight-sets victory against another player previously unconquered this summer.
Like Halep, though, Wozniacki had to overcome her own mental demons. “I was here in the semi-finals in 2011 and I was serving for the match against Li Na and I had a match point, and I lost it and that was definitely on my mind out there today,” Wozniacki said after enduring a second-set wobble while serving for the match. AAP