By Adrianna Outlaw | Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Timea Bacsinszky backed up her comeback win over world No. 2 Agnieszka Radwanska by defeating No. 5 Simona Halep to reach the Miami semifinals.
Photo credit: Miami Open
Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Timea Bacsinszky has spent her return to Miami making life miserable for top seeds.
Applying her court sense, instinct for shifting speeds and spins and an unrelenting determination, Bacsinszky continued to shred the draw dismantling Simona Halep, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, to roll into the Miami Open semifinals for the first time.
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"The first set was really tough," Bacsinszky told Andrew Krasny in her on-court interview afterward. "She's an awesome player. She's a great fighter. For the past year she has been inspiration for me because I believe in hard work and she's one of the player who works really hard.
"You have to be able to play well against her. To catch the win, it's something amazing. I'm really happy to be in semifinals."
Returning to Crandon Park for the first time in five years, the 20th-ranked Swiss has deconstructed a series of seeded veterans to reach the final four.
Bacsinszky beat former No. 1 Ana Ivanovic in the third round, befuddled world No. 2 Agnieszka Radwanska yesterday, then rallied with such vigor today she basically beat the desire out of the fifth-ranked Romanian by the final stages of this quarterfinal.
It was Bacsinszky's eighth victory in her last 10 matches.
The 2015 Roland Garros semifinalist will play either two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, who upset top-ranked Serena Williams yesterday, or 30th-seeded Ekaterina Makarova for a spot in the final.
This quarterfinal was a rematch of the 2015 Shenzhen final, which Halep swept in straight sets.
Hitting with depth, Halep broke first. Halep gave up her break lead in the eighth game, but reloaded and broke right back for a 5-4 lead.
Before serving for a one-set lead, Halep called for coach Darren Cahill, who urged her to continue pounding Bacsinszky's weaker forehand wing and spread the court.
The former French Open finalist served out the first set at 30, closing on successive Bacsinszky forehand errors.
Though Bacsinszky's backhand is a harder, flatter shot than her forehand, the slice she can play off the forehand side presented Halep with a low ball and little to work with. The Romanian began flat-lining her own forehand into net and was soon muttering to herself in frustration between points.
Bacsinszky was serving for the second set at 5-3, when a sprinting Halep smacked a running forehand pass to erase set point. Resetting, Bacsinszky drew a netted backhand from the Romanian, who showed frazzled nerves earlier by spiking her Wilson racquet. Bacsinszky mixed the heights and spins of her shots to unsettling effect taking the 59-minute second set.
Figuring out exactly what irritates her opponent and delivering precisely that shot helped Bacsinszky rally past Radwanska. She annoyed Halep for much of the final two sets as well.
Defending Halep's flatter drives with quickness, Bacsinszky broke twice in succession to start the final set, eventually building a 4-0 lead until Halep finally held to slow the Swiss roll.
Things got so bad for a disconsolate Halep, coach Cahill returned imploring his charge to fight and show some positive emotion while Halep stared vacantly into space.
"You're keeping stuff inside, let it out, give me something work with," Cahill said. "I know you're trying your hardest, but we're not going down in this match without throwing punches. Focus on her forehand...She's playing on her tempo. Come on throw some punches, throw the racquet if you need to. At the moment, she's feeling like you're not in the match."
Tremendous scrambling digs from Bacsinszky befuddled Halep so thoroughly after she pushed a poor drop shot wide to fall behind 1-5, the Romanian leaned over and dropped her head in discouragement at her plight.
Bacsinszky belted a backhand crosscourt to conclude an impressive two hour, 28-minute triumph and continue her inspired run.