Simona Halep moved to within one win of a return to World No.1 with a battling 6-4 7-5 victory over Qiang Wang in the quarter-final of the Miami Open.
The Romanian, 27, became officially the world’s best player for the first time in October 2017. She stayed there for 16 months before Naomi Osaka displaced her in January 2019.
“(First) I have to win this tournament so I’m not going to think about that,” a delighted-looking Halep said in her on-court interview. “If I play my best tennis, I have a better chance of becoming No.1 again. But it’s not in my mind. I just want to find my rhythm, find my highest level and play as well as possible.”
In the first set, Wang foolishly took Halep on from the baseline. It was a contest she was never likely to win, as there is arguably no-one better than the Romanian on the WTA tour when it comes to winning baseline rallies.
Despite this, the World No.18 stuck to the same approach throughout the opening set. Unsurprisingly, Halep got the better of her in most of these baseline battles and eventually won the set 6-4 after 45 hard-fought minutes.
Although the World No.3 won the set, she was not playing particularly well, and her frustration was clear for all to see when she spoke to her coach after the seventh game.
Halep falters but recovers just in time
At the beginning of the second set, it looked like Halep had found her rhythm. She played a series of excellent points to break the Chinese star in the first game.
However, the Romanian’s level then suddenly nosedived. Wang took confidence from this. She started to be more aggressive and repeatedly stepped inside the court to take charge. Consequently, she broke Halep three times in a row to take complete control of the set at 5-1.
But just as everyone watching was preparing themselves for a third set, the Chinese faltered and the World No.3 got one of the breaks back.
This restored Halep’s confidence. She held to love and then produced a couple of stunning winners to break to love and make it 5-4.
Amazingly, the drama continued. The Romanian played three sloppy points to fall 0-40 behind. She then saved the first with a smart volley and the second with a precise winner, before Wang wasted the third by hitting a backhand long.
Two points later, Halep gave the crowd something to remember. Her Chinese opponent dragged her from side to side and seemingly had control of the point, only to watch in horror as the World No.3 produced a brilliant backhand winner than landed right on the line.
With the set now level at 5-5, Wang resorted to a defensive game once again. It had not worked in the first set, and it did not work at this stage either.
Halep broke to lead 6-5 and then served for the match with few alarms. She will play either Karolina Pliskova or Marketa Vondrousova in the semi-final.
