By Chris Oddo | Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Simona Halep rebounded from a slow start to crush Carla Suarez Navarro in the final two sets, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1.
Photo Source: Christopher Levy
She has stressed all week that her main goal is to be a “fighter girl,” and Simona Halep backed up her words on Wednesday by turning in a gritty, determined effort against Carla Suarez Navarro.
Video: Halep Celebrates Prematurely after Losing Track of Score
After falling behind 4-0 in the first set, Halep claimed the next four games to level up with Suarez Navarro. But the Spaniard stayed firm, and eventually claimed the set by breaking in the twelfth game.
It would have been a difficult set to lose for a less spirited player, but Halep redoubled her efforts and proceeded to pressure Suarez Navarro from every direction, eventually claiming 12 of the final 13 games from the flummoxed Spaniard to win 5-7, 6-1, 6-1.
“I just wanted to stay very focused for every ball, every point, every shot, but didn't work in first set,” Halep said. “Then I changed my tactic a little bit just to play more into the court and to play more aggressive, to open the court more, and to take the ball very fast. I wanted to try just to make her run a lot, because I know that she's moving well and she's hitting really well close to the body. So I tried just to open the court and to finish the points very quickly.”
Halep hit several jaw-dropping winners including an incredible defensive point that saw her finish with a sprinting backhand pass from just inside the service line. There was very little that she didn’t do well in the final two sets. The world No. 3 routinely hammered the Suarez Navarro second serve, and broke six times on 12 opportunities in her final eight return games.
Halep’s victory places her in the Indian Wells semifinals for the second consecutive season. Last year she fell to Agnieszka Radwanska in the last four. The Romanian awaits the winner of tonight’s match between Serena Williams and Timea Bacsinszky.
No matter who she faces, Halep can take comfort in the fact that she is liking the desert conditions and feeling the ball on her racquet cleanly.
“It's really nice to be again in semifinals two years in a row,” Halep said. “Last year I had a good tournament, and this year I can say it was better than last year. I feel much more now the ball and the game. I'm more confident, and, you know, I think I have my chance in the semifinals. So I will go to fight and to believe that I can win the match.”