Tennis: Simona Halep crushes Anett Kontaveit and qualifies for Australian Open semifinals

Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, world number three, qualified for the semifinals of the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the year, after crushing Estonian player Anett Kontaveit, 6-1, 6-1, on Wednesday, in Melbourne. Halep reached the semifinals in Melbourne for the second time after a quick victory, in just 53 minutes, against an adversary that was at the best result in her career in a Grand Slam tournament. Halep controlled the game from one end to the other, played calmly, built her game with inspiration and did not give any chance to her adversary, who seemed pressured by the stakes. Kontaveit (24 years old, WTA's 31) started very well, holding the opening game at love, but then Halep went on a relentless and won 11 games in a row. The Estonian won a single game in the second set, at 5-0 for Simona, who finished the match like a champion by scoring an ace. Halep, who has not dropped a set in Melbourne this year, had 5 aces and made one double mistake, had a high percentage in the first service (78 pct against 48 pct) while the second was tied (44 pct). The Romanian capitalized on five breaks out of eleven opportunities, and Kontaveit missed the only chance at a break that she had, The Estonian had more straight winners, 15-12, but also more unforced errors, 15-10. Halep (28 years old), fourth seed, won outright the previous two matches with Kontaveit as well, in 2017, in the third round at Miami, 6-3, 6-0, and in the quarterfinals in Rome, 6-2, 6-4. Simona Halep, a finalist in Melbourne in 2018, ensured for herself a cheque worth 1,040,000 Australian dollars and 780 WTA points. Simona's adversary in the next to last act will be the winner between Spaniard Garbine Muguruza (26 years old, WTA's 32) and Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (28 years old, WTA's 30). AGERPRES (RO - editor: Mihai Tenea; EN - author: Razvan-Adrian Pandea, editor: Simona Iacob)