DUBAI // Top seed Simona Halep had to overcome a dogged opponent and her own nerves last night before she could book her place in the last four of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
Ekaterina Makarova, the No 6 seed, made the Romanian fight for every point, breaking Halep as she served for the match at 5-3 in the deciding third set and then saving four match points during the 12th game before an overhit forehand finally gave the world No 4 a 6-3, 1-6, 7-5 win.
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“I didn’t believe in my serve at that moment and I just tried to finish very quickly, which wasn’t a good idea,” Halep said as she explained her inability to serve out the match at 5-3. “I rushed a little bit.
“I was very nervous and I wanted to just hit winners. That is not possible at this level and she’s a good player, you know. It is not easy. But, yeah, I just stayed very focused and at 5-all I said that I have to relax my hands and serve like I did in first set, and it was good.”
With Halep winning her service game comfortably, the pressure was then on Makarova, who had stunned the Romanian 6-4, 6-0 in the Australian Open quarter-finals last month.
She went down 40-0, but she fought back to deuce and managed to save two more match points before the crowd favourite prevailed in the tense finish.
“There [at the Australian Open] I couldn’t feel the ball at all during the match, and here was like better for me I think,” Halep said.
“Here I was fighting till the end. I tried to be a little bit aggressive. She was playing very well if you hit the ball strong, so sometimes I tried higher balls, just tried to change my tactics every time.
“I think I did well, and I’m really happy that I could finish in the right way because it was a tough match.”
Halep started in the right way, as well, breaking Makarova early and then closing the first set in 31 minutes.
But the Russian managed to win four games in a row to force a decider. Twice in that set, she had fought back from 40-0 down to hold.
In the end, though, there was a mere difference of three points between the two players, with Halep winning 94 of the 185 points in the match. “I was fighting till the end,” Halep said as she picked through the positives from the match.
“That was the most important thing for me tonight and, match-by-match, I will find my good form.”
In the semi-finals, Halep will meet the third-seeded Caroline Wozniacki. The Dane topped No 10 seed and Italian Flavia Pennetta 7-5, 6-0.
arizvi@thenational.ae
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