By Alberto Amalfi | Thursday, February 20, 2020

 

Top-seeded Simona Halep battled by Aryna Sabalenka 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 charging into her first Dubai semifinal since she won the title in 2015.

Photo credit: Mark Peterson/Corleve

Survival skills saved Simona Halep yesterday.

Closing power propelled the top-seeded Romanian into the Dubai semifinals today.

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Halep raced through five of the last six games battling by Aryna Sabalenka 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 into the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships final.

Last night, Halep saved a match point scraping out a 1-6, 6-2, 7-6(7) victory over Ons Jabeur. She showed resilience rallying again tonight. 

The Wimbledon winner absorbed Sabalenka’s electric power at times and redirected drives down the line brilliantly at critical stages avenging a straight-sets loss to the Belarusian in Adelaide last month.

A fearless Halep converted six of eight break points in 95-minute victory—her third in four meetings vs. the US Open doubles champion.

"I think I started to play a little bit stronger in the second set and find rhythm," Halep said in her on-court interview afterward. "It's always tough to play against her because she's very strong and hits the ball really, really hard, so I had to play faster, be quicker on court and give everything I had to win.”

In the second set, Halep mixed in some short, sharper angles to displace Sabalenka from the baseline. Halep won eight of the last 10 points to take the set and force a decider.

Combating the Belarusian’s power edge with superior quickness, Halep raked a forehand down the line then drew an error breaking for a 3-1 lead in the decider.

Working through a deuce game, Halep hammered an ace down the middle that helped her confirm the break for a 4-1 lead.

The former world No. 1 pasted the baseline with a running backhand strike erupting with a hearty fist pump to her back after holding for 5-2.



The backhand down the line is Halep’s signature shot and she stroked it beautifully earning triple match point.

When Sabalenka sprayed a final backhand well wide, Halep was through to the final four in one hour, 35 minutes.

“Always it’s tough against her because she’s a little bit taller than me and she has a lot of power,” Halep said. “So I had to just block some balls and then to get the initiative to go to open the court.”

Continuing her quest for her 20th career title, the 2015 champion takes on 52nd-ranked Jennifer Brady for a spot in Saturday's final.

The American qualifier denied nine of 10 break points out-dueling Australian Open finalist Garbine Muguruza 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4 in a two hour, seven minute skirmish to score her sixth straight win in Dubai. 

Halep defeated Brady at last month's Australian Open and knows the danger the former UCLA Bruin can pose.

"We played in Melbourne so not a long time ago," Halep said. "Every tournament is another challenge. Tomorrow is gonna be a new day, a new opportunity. So I just have to focus on it and nothing else."