Roland Garros: Halep defeats Kerber to reach semi-finals for the third time

Romanian tennis player, Simona Halep, 1^st WTA, roared back to overcome No.12 seed Angelique Kerber 6-7(2), 6-3, 6-2 on Wednesday to book her place in a third Roland Garros semi-final, emerging on top of a magnificent contest decided by the narrowest margins.

No quarter was given over the first two sets of this quarterfinal, with both players using every inch of court to try to out-manoeuvre each other and, whenever momentum seemed to be with their rival, managing to come up with brilliant shots to reel the lead back.

Halep’s overall level of play had been in the ascendancy for most of that set’s second half – and, continuing to take control from the baseline, she immediately took her first lead of the match with a break in the second set. Though Kerber, sensing a pendulum swing, cut her passive play out and began to construct her most aggressive points of the match, Halep would be able to protect that advantage throughout the set, wtatennis.com informs.

In the second set, winning 85% of her first serve points compared to just 47% in the first set, the Rome finalist faced just one break point across the second stanza – saved when Kerber leaked another backhand error, before Halep held with a brilliant counterdrop.

With her intensity dipping again, two double faults in the subsequent game from the 30-year-old – one down set point – conceded the set. And once more, it was Halep who came out on fire for the decider, upping the pace on her groundstrokes and coming to net to finish points off with alacrity.

Though Kerber continued to cling on to the match, coming up with a delightful dropshot-volley combination en route to breaking back, Halep’s ability to carve up the court with sharp angles and laser-like line shots was in full flow now. Following a medical time-out that the Sydney champion took for her foot, Halep would accelerate towards the finishing line by capturing four of the final five games; suffocating on attack and impenetrable on defence, the World No.1 was both irresistible force and immovable object.

That honor will be on the line tomorrow against semi-final opponent Garbiñe Muguruza: whichever player wins that match, their first encounter since the Spaniard won 6-1, 6-0 in last year’s Cincinnati final, will come out of Roland Garros as the No.1.

The match lasted two hours and 14 minutes.

Halep leads now 6-4 in direct matches against Kerber.

According to Romanian media, Halep will collect 780 WTA points and EUR 560,000.

In the next round she will face Garbine Muguruza, who defeated Maria Sharapova 6-2, 6-1 on Wednesday.