It was a clash between the current world number one and the best player in the world — #SimonaHalep and #SerenaWilliams went head-to-head in the fourth round of the 2019 #AustralianOpen as the titanic match-up which was highly-anticipated by tennis fans finally arrived upon us.
The outcome was extremely unpredictable, considering how Halep had fought through her opening rounds and navigating her way past very tough opponents. Whereas, Williams looked flawless through her earlier wins, and proved her credentials to be a solid title contender.
Williams, raising her level during the crucial moments, suffered a huge scare before earning just the second top-10 win of her comeback as she ultimately triumphed with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 scoreline after just an hour and 47-minutes of play.
It was a high-quality encounter, with Williams amassing a total of nine aces and 44 winners as opposed to 31 unforced errors. She struggled on her second serves but dominated to win 77 percent of her first service points. Halep did not play a bad match either, and instead, her performance was rather encouraging as she blasted 24 winners to just a mere 12 unforced errors, and completely ruled the court with her first serves towards the end of the match.
Williams will now face seventh seed Karolina Pliskova in the quarterfinals and will look to earn her place in her third consecutive Major final. With a win over the Czech, the American 23-time Major champion will also successfully make her return into the top-10 of the rankings.
Williams dominates the opening frame
Halep made the wise decision of starting the match on the return as she knew that a slow start from Williams would not be a surprise. A double-fault from the American saw Halep earning triple break points, which she dutifully converted with a clean backhand winner as Williams was looking a little slow off her feet.
Monstrous returns from Williams finally announced her arrival as Halep was unable to hold onto her advantage, with her vulnerable serves being brutally punished by her powerful opponent. Gaining the momentum and rhythm in her game, the 16th seed looked unstoppable as she fired some bombs and Williams was able to consolidate for a 2-1 lead.
Halep was struggling with the pace of Williams’ shots, often falling behind in the rallies as the American looked to use her power to defeat Halep, and certainly, it was working well thus far. Unable to find her range, the world number one quickly found herself a break down as Williams could not miss anything.
Consecutive backhand winners set Williams up for yet another break of serve, and she grabbed that opportunity as Halep had no answers to the 23-time Grand Slam champion’s tennis. Serving for the set, it was a perfect service game as Williams ultimately claimed the first set 6-1, closing the set out with an ace.
Halep impressively fights back
Williams continued to fire winners at her own will, but Halep put up a tough resistance and finally held serve for the first time in the evening. However, Williams was quick to send out a warning message as she stormed to a love service hold with three huge winners.
Another series of powerful play followed, and Halep could do nothing on serve as every second serve she sent over the net was being punished, brutally. A stunning forehand return winner then helped Williams lead by a set and a break.
However, this was when the adrenaline started kicking in for Halep. The momentum shifted hands as Halep started to put up an extremely tough fight, unwilling to cave in easily and go down without giving her opponent some trouble. She saved a game point and broke straight back, finding her own winners to outplay the American as she levelled the scores in the second set.
A love service hold followed as Halep’s high first-serve percentage was accompanied by an invincible first-serve win percentage as well. Although Williams was still able to dominate her service games, there was a sign pointing towards a deciding set as Halep was playing with much more flow, confidence and a positive attitude, something lacking in her game previously.
All of a sudden, Halep seems to be unbeatable in her service games as she did not give Williams what she wanted — poor second serves. Williams soon found herself serving to stay in the set, and a series of unforced errors proved to be costly as Halep quickly sneaked the second set 6-4 to stun the crowd.
Williams narrows out the victory
All the momentum seemed to be with Halep as she prevailed in a critical opening game of the final set, staving off a break point to grab the lead for the first time in the match. She was exposing Williams’ footwork or lack thereof and was moving her all around the baseline, dictating play with her amazing ability to counterpunch the powerful shots.
Three consecutive love service holds followed for the servers, but the match-changing game was definitely the sixth game in the final set. Halep was surging on the returns, earning three hard-fought break points, but Williams rose to the occasion and served bombs on each point, disallowing her opponent to run away with the break (and the match).
A timely backhand down-the-line winner proved extraordinary as she finally sealed the nervy service hold, where her second serves came under fire, after 10 minutes of action. Halep was still coming up with the goods but faltered during the crucial moments as she sent a forehand long which gifted Williams the first (and only) break of the final set.
Eventually, it was the 16th seed who comfortably served out the match after just 107 minutes of play, sealing what would be the best win of her comeback thus far.
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