Halep, Muguruza take contrasting paths to semis
MELBOURNE:Simona Halep went to work a long way from home in the off-season, out near the desert, not taking a day off. Her focus was on getting fitter in a bid to win a third major title, to go with the championships at Wimbledon last year and her career breakthrough at the French Open in 2018. Garbiñe Muguruza climbed Kilimanjaro, got away from it all. She didn’t want to dwell on two relatively barren seasons since her Wimbledon win in 2017.
After contrasting preparations, Halep is back in the Australian Open semi-finals for the second time in three years, and Muguruza has made it for the first time at Melbourne Park. The pair of two-time major winners will play off for a spot in the final after winning their quarterfinals in straight sets on Wednesday.
Both have already won Wimbledon and the French Open and have been ranked No. 1, and are bidding for their first Grand Slam title on a hard court. The topranked Barty is trying to end a drought for Australians at home: The last woman to win the singles championship was Chris O’Neil in 1978. Halep has been close before at Melbourne Park. She saved match points in the third round and in the semi-finals in 2018 before losing the final in three sets to Caroline Wozniacki.
On Wednesday, she needed only 53 minutes to beat first-time major quarter-finalist Kontaveit 6-1, 6-1. “Perfection doesn’t exist, but I’m very happy with the way I played. I felt great on court. I was moving great. I felt the ball, like, really, really good,” she said. “It was a great match.”
Halep spent three weeks in Dubai, her first offseason away from home, so she could focus fully on 2020. “No days off,” Halep said. Seeded fourth, Halep has advanced to the last four without dropping a set, and said she feels like she’s playing her best tennis.
Muguruza was ill at the start of tournament and lost her first set 6-0 before recovering to beat US qualifier Shelby Rogers in three sets, conceding just one further game in the match. She has followed that up with wins over two top 10 players—Wimbledon and US Open semi-finalist Elina Svitolina and No. 9 Kiki Bertens.
The 26-year-old Spaniard took a little more than 1 1/2 hours to eliminate No. 30 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-5, 6-3 in the quarterfinals. Her time on the mountain was “definitely was a lifechanging experience,” Murgurza said. “But it definitely had an impact on me, not as a tennis player, but just in general,” she said. “Being through such a tough challenge, I think, yeah, did many things inside of me.”