Melbourne (AFP)

Garbine Muguruza, 32nd in the world, joined Simona Halep (3rd) on Wednesday in the semifinals of the Australian Open, awaiting the last men's quarterfinals Wawrinka-Zverev and Nadal-Thiem.

At 26, Muguruza won two Grand Slam tournaments (Roland-Garros 2016 and Wimbledon 2017), but she hadn't reached the halves of a Major since Roland-Garros in 2018, where she had been beaten by .. Halep.

"I have known her for a long time, so I know it will be difficult," said of her next opponent, the former Spanish world No. 1 who had never reached the last four in Melbourne before.

On Wednesday, she ended up losing 7-5, 6-3 to Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (30th). She underlined how crucial the win in the first set was because if it took 56 minutes to win it, the second round was easier (37 minutes).

"The first set was very hard, it lasted about an hour. It was a very important first run and I am very happy to have won it," said the Spanish player.

"I had to adapt to the circumstances", she underlined with reference in particular to the dazzling sun which posed a problem in particular for the service.

"But it was the same for her," she added.

On the contrary, Halep never experienced the slightest difficulty during his shift: the Romanian only made a bite of Anett Kontaveit (31st) 6-1, 6-1 in 53 minutes.

- "Much stronger" -

"I have worked a lot during the off season and I feel much stronger at the start of the season than in previous years," said the 28-year-old player, also a former world N.1 and finalist in Melbourne in 2018. .

The lost final against Caroline Wozniacki "was not negative at all," said Halep. "This match helped me win my two Grand Slam tournaments (Roland-Garros 2018 and Wimbledon 2019, editor's note), and perhaps the third ... but it is still very far", she said. added.

Halep is the last player in the running to have still not lost a single set since the start of the tournament, now in 5 games.

At the top of the women's table, the semi-final will pit Ashleigh Barty (No. 1 world) against Sofia Kenin (15th) who qualified on Tuesday.

The 10th day of the Australian Open will also determine the top semifinal on the men's table on Wednesday.

Before Nadal (N.1) faced Dominic Thiem (5th) in the night session, his victim in the last two Roland-Garros finals, Stan Wawrinka (15th) faced Alexander Zverev (7th) in the afternoon.

The 34-year-old Swiss, winner of the Australian Open in 2014 (and in total of 3 Major titles with also Roland-Garros 2015 and the US Open 2016) has not reached the half since 2017. And in two games, he has never beaten Zverev yet.

The German, for his part, has never reached the last four in the Grand Slam at 22.

© 2020 AFP