The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Halep in impressive form
Simona Halep barely put a foot wrong in thrashing 21st seed Carla Suarez Navarro, who had won all their four previous meetings on clay, 6-1 6-1.
The match had looked set to be the first real test of the third seed’s title credentials but she was so utterly in control it only lasted an hour.
Halep, who lost in the final at Roland Garros to Maria Sharapova in 2014, said: “It’s amazing how I won today, how I played against Carla.
“I think everything has changed. Also in my general life. I’m more positive, and it helps me. I don’t have bad moods any more.”
In the last eight Halep will face Elina Svitolina, who beat the Romanian in Rome to climb to the top of the women’s standings for this year.
The Ukrainian fifth seed engineered a miraculous escape against qualifier Petra Martic, recovering from 2-5 and 0-30 in the third set to win 4-6 6-3 7-5.
Svitolina said she had panicked after experiencing shooting pain in her back 30 minutes before the match.
“I forgot how to win, how to play,” she said. “That’s why I was a bit struggling.
“I found the way. I changed some things. Maybe it was a little bit too late to change, but I did it and I think it brought me to win the match.”
Having been two points away, Martic suffered a dramatic collapse, winning just four of the last 24 points.
Second seed Karolina Pliskova has made hard work of things so far on her least favourite surface but is still alive after a 2-6 6-3 6-4 victory over Veronica Cepede Royg.
In the quarter-finals Pliskova will face Caroline Garcia after she won an all-French grudge match against Alize Cornet 6-2 6-4.