Melbourne (AFP)
Romania's Simona Halep, 3rd in the world, and Estonian Anette Kontaveit (31st) will compete in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open for which they qualified on Monday.
Halep dismissed Belgian Belgian Elise Mertens (17th) 6-4, 6-4. Thanks to this victory, it will again become world N.2 at the end of the tournament.
"I had to calm down (at the end of the match) because when I get nervous, I lose my head a bit ... I had to stay calm, draw on the energy from my box" Halep said after the meeting.
Indeed, from the start of the second round, the Romanian took twice the service of her opponent to break away 3-0. But the Belgian returned first to 3-2, then to 4-4. At the end of a very disputed game, Halep again made the break (5-4) before concluding the match on his next throw-in.
At 28, the former world N.1 reached the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam tournament for the 14th time in his career. Twice (Roland-Garros 2018 and Wimbledon 2019), it has won the title.
She reached the final in Melbourne in 2018 and was eliminated in 8th last year.
Kontaveit, for his part, eliminated the Polish Iga Swiatek (56th) 6-7 (4/7), 7-5, 7-5, and will play at 24 her first quarterfinal of the Grand Slam.
"What a fight! I'm glad I got through it. I'm still shaking," she said before leaving the court. I just tried to stay as strong as I could and fight on every point ", did she say.
She is the first Estonian to reach this stage of competition at the Australian Open. Her compatriot Kaia Kanepi had reached quarters at the US Open in 2017.
© 2020 AFP