TOP-NOTCH HALEP GEARS UP FOR BEST PLAYER SERENA

Halep might be the current number one in women’s tennis but the Romanian believes the best player in the world will be awaiting her when she takes on Serena in the fourth round.

Top seed Simona Halep had the odds stacked against her ahead of the Australian Open but the Romanian proved her title credentials with a breezy 6-2 6-3 third round win over multiple Grand Slam winner Venus Willliams on Saturday.

The reward for the 27-year-old French Open champion is probably the toughest challenge in the women’s draw at Melbourne Park, a fourth round date with the younger Williams sister, Serena. “I think I have to play similar, if I can,” Halep said, referring to her clash against the winner of 23 Grand Slam titles. “I have to be smart, aggressive.

“I have to move her and give my best. I will not super think about this because there is nothing to think, just go there and play natural and with confidence.”

French Open champion Halep was the finalist in Melbourne in 2018, but came to the year’s first grand slam after playing only one match since September—a 6-4 6-4 defeat by Australia’s Ashleigh Barty at the Sydney International.

Halep has struggled for form and fitness since her first-round defeat at the U.S. Open last August.

She started positively against seven-times major singles champion Venus, though, and broke twice to take the first set.

Venus showed more fight in the second and there was an early trade of breaks before Halep broke again to go 4-3 up before converting her first match point with a forehand winner down the line to seal victory in an hour and 17 minutes.

The 38-year-old Venus, who won her last Grand Slam title at Wimbledon in 2008, complimented Halep for playing an almost perfect match.

The other Williams powered into the fourth round of the Australian with a 6-2 6-1 demolition of Dayana Yastremska then consoled the Ukrainian teenager after leaving her in tears.

The 37-year-old, chasing a recordextending eighth Melbourne title in the professional era, barely broke sweat on a sunny afternoon at Rod Laver Arena as she racked up 20 winners and beat the 57th-ranked 18-year-old in a breezy 67 minutes.

Yastremska rolled her right ankle midway through the match and took a medical time-out to have her foot bandaged when trailing 4-1 in the second set. It stalled defeat only briefly, however, as Williams broke her a third time in the set and claimed the match when the Ukrainian sprayed a cross-court forehand wide. REUTERS