By Richard Pagliaro | Thursday, June 29, 2017
Down a set and a break, Caroline Wozniacki won 12 of the final 14 games stopping Simona Halep, 5-7, 6-4, 6-1, to reach the Eastbourne semifinals.
Photo credit: Charlie Crowhurst/Getty
Caroline Wozniacki transformed the Eastbourne lawn into a thrill ride rallying through a rollercoaster match denying Simona Halep’s bid to seize the world No. 1 ranking.
A defiant Wozniacki fought back from a one-set, 0-3 deficit reeling off 12 of the final 14 games to subdue a weary Halep, 5-7, 6-4, 6-1, and advance to the Eastbourne semifinals for the fifth time.
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Wozniacki will play British No. 2 Heather Watson for a spot in the final.
Watson warded off Czech veteran Barbora Strycova, 6-1, 1-6, 6-4 to earn a semifinal spot for the second time at Devonshire Park.
The Wozniacki-Halep match a topsy-turvy encounter with each woman making an extended run in their second match of the day.
The second-ranked Romanian needed to reach the final to have a shot of supplanting world No. 1 Angelique Kerber for the top spot.
For a set and a half, Halep was on course to achieve that aim.
The sixth-seeded Wozniacki dropped the opening game then raced through five of the next six games building a 5-2 lead.
Undaunted, Halep roared back racing through eight straight games turning a deep deficit into a 7-5, 3-0 lead.
“I was in control and felt like I was really dictating the game. Even at 4-1 I still felt like I was dictating, but all of a sudden, even when she was in the corner, all of a sudden she came up with these crazy shots and angles," Wozniacki said afterward. "It's, like, I don't know what to do with that. I think she really stepped it up and really started to play well and forced me to do some errors and really go even more for my shots.
"And then obviously it's frustrating losing a set like that, but then I just kept keeping my head down and tried to keep staying aggressive. It paid out in the end."
Finding her rhythm in crosscourt exchanges, Wozniacki won eight of nine points breaking at 15 and consolidating with a love hold creeping to 2-3 in the second set.
A shanked forehand put Halep in a break-point bind in the eighth game. The Romanian saved it but sent a backhand long as a feisty Wozniacki broke again to level for 4-all after being down double break.
An out of sorts Halep double-faulted giving Wozniacki triple set point. The former No. 1 needed only one using the drop shot to lure Halep forward and breaking again to take the 42-minute second set and level the match.
Regrouping, Halep broke again to open the final set.
Yet that good work dissipated as Halep slogged through a sloppy game netting a drop shot to give back the break.
Playing with more urgency and determination throughout the final set, Wozniacki rattled a return off Halep’s racquet breaking again for 3-1. A loopy forehand set up a backhand winner crosscourt as Wozniacki backed up the break for 4-1.
Playing cleaner tennis, Wozniacki committed 12 fewer unforced errors than the two-time French Open finalist, who made 32 matches in the match.
Halep, who was unable to close Jelena Ostapenko in the Roland Garros final earlier this month, showed some signs of resignation in the decisive set.
A stretch backhand drop volley gave Wozniacki triple break point in the sixth game. A disconsolate Halep double faulted the break away—Wozniacki’s eighth break of the match—as the 2009 champion took a 5-1 lead.
Wozniacki stuck a forehand winner in the corner closing in one hour, 54 minutes.
Johanna Konta worked through an adventurous afternoon beating Grand Slam champions back-to-back and surviving a nasty fall to the grass to advance to the Eastbourne semifinals for the second straight year.
Down a break in the final set, the British No. 1 defeated Ostapenko, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4, in advancing to the quarterfinals against world No. 1 Angelique Kerber, who conquered Lara Arruabarrena, 6-2, 6-1, in her first match of the day.
Konta cracked 32 winners sweeping Kerber, 6-3, 6-4, despite slipping and falling to the court on match point in the final game.
Holding match point, Konta was running behind the baseline in pursuit of the ball when her right foot skidded on the grass and she crashed to the court slamming her back and back of her head on the turf.
A concerned Kerber and chair umpire Kader Nouni both rushed over to the fallen Briton to try to aid her. After laying flat on her back for about six minutes while the trainer attended to her, Konta rose from the court to resume play.
Kerber asked "are you okay?”
"Thank you," Konta replied before crunching a backhand winner crosscourt for a fourth match point. When Kerber poked a backhand into net, Konta was through to the semifinals.
"I'm okay," Konta said afterward. "I slipped and I hit my head so I’ve got a sore head so we’ll see. It’s been a busy afternoon not just for myself but all players definitely looking to recover as best I can and looking forward to play tomorrow."
The fifth-seeded Briton will take on Karolina Pliskova in tomorrow's semifinals.
The third-seeded Pliskova dispatched two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-7 (7), 6-2, 6-4 in her quarterfinal.
A year ago, Pliskova stopped Konta, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-3, in the Eastbourne semifinals before bowing to Dominika Cibulkova in the final.
"I played her many times," said Konta, who beat Pliskova in their most recent meeting, 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (2) in Beijing last fall. "Every single time I've played her it’s been an incredible battle. Looking forward to hopefully playing another great match against her…Definitely the most important thing right now is to recover."
Former world No. 1 Wozniacki opened today’s play crushing Indian Wells champion Elena Vesnina, 6-1, 6-2, while Halep had to fight through a much tougher test before closing out Tsvetana Pironkova, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (4), 7-5.
The 26-year-old Dane advanced to her fourth semifinal of the season.