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Simona Halep clings onto Australian Open dream after winning record-equalling marathon against Lauren Davis
“I won with my heart today,” said Simona Halep, after somehow surviving a 3hr 44m cliffhanger in Melbourne. Could this miraculous escape be the catalyst for her first grand slam?
On the face of things, it seems unlikely. On top of the superhuman effort Halep put in, she is carrying a dodgy ankle – which she rolled during her opening match against Destanee Aiava – and a stack of unhelpful memories from previous majors.
But don’t discount her just yet. The Australian Open is so often the theatre of the unexpected, as the great magician Roger Federer reminded us last year.
What we can say is that Halep enthralled Rod Laver Arena with the match of the year thus far, played at a breakneck pace against the unheralded American Lauren Davis. These courageous women equalled the record for the longest contest ever fought out at the Australian Open, before Halep finally tottered over the finish line by a 4-6, 6-4, 15-13 margin.
Thank goodness that a cool change swept through Melbourne, bringing temperatures down by almost 20 degrees and returning tennis to its roots as a game of dexterity as much as endurance. Even so, there was still a sadistic edge to the first item on the schedule, which ended with Halep groaning “I’m almost dead” in her on-court interview.
And Halep was the victorious player. Spare a thought for Davis, whose toes were bleeding as she trooped off Rod Laver Arena. The American No 11, Davis had wasted three consecutive match points on Halep’s underwhelming serve, in a moment that will surely haunt her for months.
The match was played at a ferocious pace throughout, as befitting two relatively small women with fantastic footwork. Halep is 5ft 6in tall, Davis an outright anomaly as a 5ft 2in counterpuncher on a tour dominated by 6ft amazons.
By the end, they had each covered around three miles. This might not sound much for a jogger, but they were both sprinting, stopping, turning and then sprinting again. Halep’s thighs were beginning to cramp up in the closing stages, while her problematic ankle felt like it was on fire. And that is before you add in the psychological toll.
“Whoever won that match, I thought it was a minor miracle to go through the ups and downs, the rollercoaster,” said Halep’s coach Darren Cahill in an interview with the New York Times. “I said to her, ‘I’m not sure I’ve sat through a more emotional match, in all my years of coaching.’ It’s one for the ages, and a credit to both ladies. I thought they were magnificent.”
It seems deeply unfair that the Halep does not have a clothing sponsor at this year’s Austalian Open – a missed opportunity, surely, when you consider how much TV air-time she has already occupied over the past week. Some might argue that she is suffering for her lack of major titles, but there is also the fact that she comes from Romania – a country that offers limited value for manufacturers.
Yet this is a woman with a stylish game, a freakish level of athleticism, and a wry sense of humour that brings her press conferences to life. “Finally I had a shorter opponent than me!” Halep said. “It was a nice feeling, but she was moving really well and her backhand was amazing. I was a little bit frustrated because of the leg. I felt the pain all match, but I didn't give up.”
Halep will now play Naomi Osaka, the dangerous Japanese-American, in Monday's fourth-round match. “After this match I think tomorrow is going to be worse,” she said, when asked about her left ankle. “But I just push, push myself, and we will see what's going to happen.”
While Halep had to scrap for every inch against Davis, the new tournament favourite Angelique Kerber was largely untroubled during a match against Maria Sharapova that had – on paper – looked like the best contest of the day.
These were the only two major-winners left in a draw that has already lost 11 of its top 16 seeds. And Sharapova had thrown down the gauntlet in the build-up by saying “I want to be playing against opponents that are former grand slam champions ... I want to see where I am on that level.”
The answer duly arrived, as she proved unable to live with Kerber’s mobility and focus. A master of redirecting the ball from crosscourt to down-the-line, then back again, Kerber plays a high proportion of her groundstokes from a squatting position, like a woman about to do the limbo. This unconventional approach allows her to attack balls that land near her toes without retreating. And with her powerful thighs and fast feet, she was able to keep up a far higher workrate than the contrastingly stilt-legged Sharapova.
Was there a little extra feeling in Kerber’s celebration after the final point of her stress-free 6-1, 6-3 victory? She was one of those who objected last year when Sharapova was allowed to return from her meldonium ban in the middle of the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart, thus taking up a wild card that would otherwise have gone to Kerber’s fellow German Julia Goerges. Such details have a habit of sticking in players’ minds.
Yet this question is probably academic now, especially as Sharapova has yet to re-establish herself as a real factor on the tour. “I think there are a lot of things that I need to get better at and improve on,” said Sharapova after this chastening result. “But looking at the overall picture, the first thing is that I'm healthy. That, to me, is a big thing because I'll be back on the practice court. I'm not starting from zero. There's a lot to build from.”
Kerber will now play Su-Wei Hsieh, a junk-ball specialist from Chinese Taipei, in her fourth-round match on Monday. On this form, she could well be going all the way.