Simona Halep survived a scare from Ying-Ying Duan to book her place into the Shenzhen Open Quarter-Finals and the top seed at the Australian Open after her 3-6 6-1 6-2 victory.
Despite the victory, Halep made hard work of the win after she started the match slowly and not at her peak level. The powerful Duan took full advantage as she secured a break of serve in the fourth game for a 3-1 lead.
As a result of the early lead, Halep felt the scoreboard pressure and hit a variety of unforced errors on the return of serve. Both women continued to hold serve comfortable as the world number 91 grabbed the first set 6-3 in 32 minutes.
The world number one had to step up her game if she wanted to keep her world number one ranking heading into the Australian Open and she did exactly that. The Romanian was aggressive in the second set, dictating play and forcing Duan to hit the tightest of angles. Halep broke in the fourth game as she earned a 3-1 lead and earnt control of the match.
Halep hit some incredible shots as she would win the remaining games of the set to force a deciding set. The home favourite was clearly struggling and this was confirmed when she had an off-court medical timeout at the end of the second set on her right leg.
Halep continued her momentum in the third set as she raced to a 5-0 lead with some simply sublime shot making that managed to stun Duan. Despite a mini-comeback from the world number 91, a forehand into the net sealed the match for the Romanian as she completed victory in just under 1 hour and 40 minutes.
The world number one claimed that the match was much harder than the scoreboard suggests, “After the first set, I knew I had to find the rhythm a little bit, to stay closer to the baseline and just open the court better, which I did very well,” said Halep. “It was not easy, even though the scores were 6-1 6-2 – it was a very tough match.”
The win means Halep secured the number one seed at the Australian Open ahead of Caroline Wozniacki and Garbine Muguruza and will now face Belarusian powerhouse Aryna Sabalenka in the Quarter-Finals.
