Wimbledon, England
Simona Halep runs and swings with grace. She hits tennis balls with smooth strokes and moves as well as anyone in the tour. Some days she looks like she won’t miss. Her serve isn’t deadly, but it’s fairly effective. She has everything—except the one thing everyone has expected from her for years: a Grand Slam title.
Halep won another round at Wimbledon on Monday, beating former world #1 Victoria Azarenka 7-6(3), 6-2. Halep hit 18 winners, a mere 11 unforced errors and reacted so well to serves that she held Azarenka to one ace. On Tuesday she’ll play Johanna Konta, the British star seeded #6 and considered by many a favorite for the title.
“It’s going to be very difficult match,” Halep said. “But I believe that I have a chance. I’m ready for it.”
That Halep is ready is a miracle. After malaise earlier this season, her coach, Darren Cahill, briefly split with her. She changed her attitude, reunited with him, and promptly reached the final of the French Open. There Halep, a clear favorite, led Jelena Ostapenko by a set and 3-0. And then she fell apart. Losses like that can haunt a player for months, or even years. This time, not Halep.
“I think I’m stronger,” she said. “I feel confident. I feel that I have a chance always when I go on court. I really believe in myself that I can win every match I play. I think that’s the most important thing in my inside, like in my mind.”
Cahill, once the coach of Andre Agassi, said he loved that Halep decided to climb rather than sink.
“She deserves all the credit in the world,” Cahill said. “She has been able to go on court and find that competitive spirit. I’m really proud.”
Other women’s matches had even more tension on Manic Monday. In the most entertaining women’s battle of the day, Garbiñe Muguruza beat Angelique Kerber 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. Muguruza, known for hard groundstrokes, was remarkable at the net, where she won 34 of 52 volley attempts.
Magdalena Rybarikova, unseeded and finally recovered from months of injuries, defeated Petra Martic, a tournament qualifier from Croatia, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3. Johanna Konta, the great British hope, needed three sets to defeat France’s Caroline Garcia, 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-4. And Jelena Ostapenko, the 20-year-old French Open champ who beat Halep in the final last month, beat Elina Svitolina, seeded #4, in a tight 6-3, 7-6(6). American CoCo Vandeweghe won another close two-setter, 7-6(4), 6-4 against #5 seed Caroline Wozniacki. Vandeweghe and Rybarikova meet on Tuesday.
Not everyone had a taxing match. Venus Williams, who plays Ostapenko on Tuesday, beat the young Ana Konjuh 6-3, 6-2. And heavy-hitting Svetlana Kuznetsova knocked out Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2, 6-4. She’ll battle Muguruza on Tuesday.
