Simona Halep, the #1 player in women’s tennis, sat on her Australian Open bench late in her semifinal match against Angelique Kerber and smiled. It wasn’t a good smile. It was a look of irony and extreme frustration. Halep’s serve had just been broken and she now trailed 6-5 in the third set, one game from losing. She looked like she had given up.
The old Halep might have, but the new one, remarkably, never seems to quit. Trailing 40-15 in that game—one point from a Kerber victory—Halep hit big, including a winner. Saving Kerber’s second match point left Halep smiling, this time in disbelief. She tied the score, then won the game, and eventually the match, 6-3, 4-6, 9-7. She looked spent, as did Kerber. But she also looked like she now believes that anything is possible. Halep has now saved match points in two separate matches at this Australian Open—five match points saved in all. And now she needs just one more win to claim her first major title.
“I had actually two moments when I felt that the match was over,” Halep said afterward. “I have no power anymore and everything is gone. But I served pretty well in the service games, and then I got confident again. And like I said, I didn’t give up, which meant a lot, and that’s how I won the match.”
The player serving with two match points on her racquet usually wins. Coming back in that situation requires not just skill but an odd sort of relaxation rather than panic, because the player thinks there’s no chance of winning. (Novak Djokovic, you may recall, did this to Roger Federer at the 2011 U.S. Open.) In some ways relaxation is a good reaction, because it loosens the arms and legs, and allows for an aggressive return. If the player can shed their fear of losing, strange and wonderful things can happen. Which is exactly what happened to Halep.
“I was not afraid of losing, so maybe that’s why I was—I won those balls, and then I got the confidence back that I’m still alive and I can do it,” Halep said.
Halep’s opponent in the final, Caroline Wozniacki, has had even more Grand Slam frustration in her career. Like Halep, this will be her third major final. She has more tournament wins than Halep, though, and a higher overall winning percentage on tour. She’s now ranked #2 and will reclaim the #1 slot if she wins. Wozniacki has long been known as a expert at defense, but she, like Halep, is now playing more offensively. She says her resolve here means she can’t ask for more.
“Regardless of what happens now, I’ve done my best,” Wozniacki said. “When you go out there on Saturday, you have everything to win.”
Halep looks like the favorite, but she could be spent from so many tough matches and her semifinal marathon against Kerber.
Will Halep-Wozniacki go the distance, too? I wouldn’t be surprised. Whoever wins will be a first-time Grand Slam champion. Whoever loses will feel gutted. I hope it lasts a while, as so many other fabulous women’s matches have in the last year. These two deserve everyone’s attention, and I’m sure they’re going to show off everything they’ve got.
