By Richard Pagliaro | Friday, January 19, 2018
Simona Halep saved three match points subduing Lauren Davis, 4-6, 6-4, 15-13, in a three hour, 45-minute epic AO victory.
Photo credit: Mark Peterson/Corleve
A creaky left ankle hobbled Simona Halep.
A courageous heart carried Halep through a classic.
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A gritty Halep denied three straight match points serving at 10-11 in a spirited stand before finally serving out the match on her fourth attempt subduing Lauren Davis, 4-6, 6-4, 15-13, in an epic Australian Open victory of astonishing quality and character.
"It was definitely a very tough match," Halep told Sam Smith afterward. "I've never played such a long third set, so I'm very happy I could stay and win it. I'm almost dead, but it was nice to show such good tennis."
The world No. 1, whose left ankle was taped after she rolled it during her opening-round win over Aussie wild card Destanee Aiava, was pushed to the very edge of elimination by a determined Davis. Playing the role of aggressor for much of the match, Davis nearly doubled the top seed’s winner total (52 to 27) and fought off 15 of the 22 break points she faced.
Pushing each other all over the court in pulsating rallies, the pair stayed in lock-step for much of the 48-game match, equaling the Australian Open record for most games in a singles match established the 1996 quarterfinals when Chanda Rubin edged Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, 6-4, 2-6, 16-14.
The fierce fight spanned three hours and 45 minutes between wounded warriors as Halep was playing on a sprained left ankle she sustained in round two, while Davis, who raced around the court with all the vigor of a lifeguard rushing to save a troubled swimmer, took two medical timeouts in the final set to treat a torn toenail on her right foot.
"Definitely an amazing match; for me very memorable," Davis said. "I’ll carry it with me the rest of my life. It's such an honor to play Simona. She’s an incredible fighter. I’ve always looked up to her because our games are very similar. I’m gonna take positives from this and relish it. It’s just an awesome match."
Ultimately, Halep’s deep defiance and resilience helped her stay unbeaten on the season.
She suffered to do it.
In her second-round win over former semifinalist Genie Bouchard, Halep played quick points against the erratic Canadian. From the first ball today, Davis made this is a physical skirmish, testing the top-seed’s movement wide to the backhand side.
The backhand down the line is Halep’s signature shot, but Davis turned it against her in the early stages. Timely backhand drives down the line helped Davis close points.
They exchanged breaks in the fifth and sixth games with Halep, struggling to push up on her taped ankle, arming a double fault to gift the break in the sixth game.
Driving the ball deeper, Davis was the aggressor in the opening set—she hit 11 winners to eight for Halep—and closed with a bang. That biting backhand down the line gave the American two set points. Whipping an inside-out forehand, Davis collected the 40-minute first set.
Fifty minutes into the match, Halep crowded the baseline, began smacking shots with a bit more conviction and rattled errors from the American. Davis slapped her fourth double fault of the day into net donating the break and a 2-1 lead to Halep.
The Romanian ran off six straight points stretching the lead to 3-1 while a strained Davis was checking her pulse at times.
On a cooler day than the last two scorchers, Davis was looking a little depleted pressing her fingers against her abdominals and stretching her shoulders out after holding in the fifth game.
Scrapping through longer rallies, Halep denied a break point in the sixth game. A stubborn Davis dug out of a love-40 deficit, cracking a backhand down the line and backhand drive volley to highlight an adventurous hold for 3-4.
Poking a stretched backhand down the line, Halep served out the second set at love as coach Darren Cahill stood to applaud her stand.
Drama, pressure and dizzying tension escalated throughout the tense deciding set as the quality of play spiked.
A crackling 19-shot rally saw Davis sprint side-to-side with grit draining an error from Halep to break back for 3-all.
Both women are exceptionally quick movers and exceedingly clean ball-strikers, but Halep’s second serve was more stable at crunch time. Halep broke for 5-4, but Davis broke back, starting a pattern that saw Halep serve for it again at 6-5 only to surrender serve.
Again Halep served for the match at 8-7, and again the daring Davis had an answer firing an inside-out forehand breaking back for 8-all.
Holding a 30-love lead in the ensuing game, Davis couldn’t make it stand. Sticking a forehand into the middle of the net, she faced a third break point. Throughout the set, Davis was most courageous when down. Davis drilled a backhand down the line fending off a fourth break point.
A scrambling Davis ran down everything Halep hit draining a backhand error to cap an exceptionally tough hold for 9-8.
An exquisite sharp-angled backhand gave Davis the lead in the 22nd game then she ran down a drop shot and shovevled a forehand down the line for triple match point.
Calmly confronting crisis, Halep drew two errors to save the first two match points then blasted a big serve down the T and cranked a forehand to deny the third match point. The Romanian won six straight points holding for 11-11.
Pained by a torn toe nail, Davis took a medical timeout for treatment. Returning to action, Davis denied five break points closing with a smash for 12-11.
After holding for 13-12, Davis took another time-out for more taping on her foot, while Halep stood behind the baseline waiting to serve at the three hour, 33-minute mark.
"It was on the first match point for a few games I felt like the toenail had fallen off, but then on the first match point I stepped and I felt like I can’t put any pressure on that," Davis said. "It affected me a ton, but after she taped it, it was pretty good. I wasn’t 100 percent, but I was still able to move."
Physical strain hit Halep, who clutched at her left thigh and limped a bit after holding for 13-all.
Ripping a sharp-angled forehand return, Halep broke at 15 for a 14-13 lead.
For the fourth time, Halep served for the fourth round.
This time she found finality.
Davis narrowly missed a forehand down the line concluding a classic in which both women received a well-deserved standing ovation from the appreciative crowd in Rod Laver Arena.
The third set lasted 30 games played over two hours, 18 minutes—the third longest final set in Open Era history.
A resolute Halep withstood it all, and sustained the world No. 1 ranking in the process.
Now she'll need to recover and regroup before facing either explosive Naomi Osaka or 18th-seeded Aussie Ashleigh Barty for a place in the quarterfinals.