Romanian tennis player, Simona Halep, 1st WTA, has defeated Angelique Kerber 6-3, 4-6, 9-7 on Thursday, in Melbourne, in an epic match, to reach the Australian Open final for the first time.
Halep made one of the great matches of her career to win the confrontation in two hours and 20 minutes.
Halep said right after the match: “It was a very tough match, I am shaking, I am very excited” I knew it would be complicated, I knew she is playing very well, she moves, hits from all directions, I am glad I I resisted and that I’ve won. It’s not easy to play two matches like this in the same tournament, but I am enjoying the moment. Thank you all for supporting me!”
She added: “I was the first one to have match balls, but I failed to win them, and I told myself I have to have confidence in my strength if she comes from behind. I told myself that, after the ankle injury, I got better and I have to give everything in this tournament, I will have enough time to rest after this. Once you don’t give up, you can go to the very end. I am proud of what I have achieved.”
In the final, Halep will face on Saturday Caroline Wosniacki, Denmark, 2nd WTA, who defeated Elise Mertens 6-3, 7-6 (2) and the winner will get the first position in the WTA rankings. The match starts at 10.30h, Bucharest time.
Referring to Wosniacki, Halep said: “I respect her very much, I will be forced to run a lot. It will be a great challenge. When I played the final at Roland Garros and I lost, I told myself that, if I ever get to play another final, I will give everything and I will be braver. I am not going to think about the title. If it comes, so be it!”
As it happened
The opening set was a tale of Kerber’s fluctuations. Already down a break, the German fell away from a forehand to send it long, played a panicky drop shot into net and then sprayed another forehand well out when on the run to fall behind 3-0, ausopen.com informs.
Soon the rock-solid Halep has surged to a 5-0 lead before Kerber found her range and intensity. Her grunt returned – it had been curiously absent up until that point – and she teed off in the seventh game, with four straight winners to hold for 2-5.
She closed the gap to 3-5 – by now the crowd was coming to life – before her game deserted her again. It meant Halep had the opening set in just 25 minutes.
The Romanian, keenly aware of Kerber’s struggles on her forehand wing, played tactically astute tennis in the second. Instead of firing hard, linear drives on which the former world No.1 thrives, she added shape and heaviness to her forehand – à la Ash Barty – and allowed the German to self-destruct.
But from a set and a break down, Kerber rallied. This was gritty, tough Angie at her best – she wasn’t playing well but she just needed to keep enough balls in the court to prevent Halep getting too comfortable.
Kerber same so close to dropping serve and trailing 5-3, but managed to land an off-forehand on the baseline for a winner to save a second break point. When she slotted a running forehand passing shot up the line to level scores at 4-4, the Rod Laver Arena crowd roared – they had a match.
Becoming increasingly negative, Halep began to leak errors, and hit herself out of the set. And on it went to a third.
One could ramble for thousands of words about how many twists and turns and amazing points characterised the epic final set that unfolded. Instead, we’ll boil it down to a few key moments.
Kerber opened the set by breaking serve after two incredible rallies – the second of which, at 22-strokes and featuring every shot in the book, prompted shrieks from the crowd and a standing ovation – to take an early lead.
But Halep, undeterred, would later recover from 0-30 down in the seventh game by belting three successive winners to hold for 4-3, and then broke serve to take a 5-3 lead.
Serving for the match, Halep arrived at 30-15, but Kerber came roaring back, eventually winning a stunning 26-stroke rally with a backhand winner that saw her finish on the ground. With that winner, she’d broken back for 4-5 but would face two match points in the next game – the second of which she saved with another backhand winner.
Kerber embarked on a three-game run that saw her break for 6-5 and serve for the match, but here, it was Halep’s turn to save match points, her forcing forehands rewarded. Another searching rally – this one 16 strokes – was won by the Romanian, and scores were locked at 6-6.
The pair went game for game on serve until Halep, leading 8-7, arrived at a third match point after coming out on top of a thrilling 18-shot exchange. Kerber saved that with forcing play, but couldn’t deny Halep on the Romanian’s fourth opportunity.
When Kerber fired a backhand long, a classic was concluded.