Yanina Wickmayer routes out Simona Halep in the quarter-finals – Moorilla Hobart International 2012
Top seed in the tournament, Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium kept her clean sheet against the 57th ranked Simona Halep, defeating the Romanian in the quarter-finals of the Moorilla Hobart International on Thursday. The world
number 29 took merely 57 minutes to wrap up victory in straight sets, 6-4, 6-0, earning a berth in the semi-finals of the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) tournament.
It was the fourth victory for Wickmayer in the 2012 WTA season and the third straight one against Halep in singles encounters. They last met in Auckland in 2011, where the Belgian was successful again in straight sets, 6-0, 6-2.
Wickmayer now leads 3-0 against Halep in all-time head-to-head series and is just two wins away to claim her third WTA championship title.
The 22-year-old Belgian had a steady start in the opening set but built up her momentum in the later parts to flabbergast Halep. She crafted a total of 11 break opportunities in the matchup and converted five of them to dispose
of Halep in style. The Romanian could barely register one break point in the entire contest and was beaten by her superior ranked opponent in every segment of the game.
Halep exhibited a magnificent show of power hitting in her second round clash against the eighth seeded fellow compatriot, Irina-Camelia Begu, surprising her in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2 but failed to show any glimpse of that exceptional
game play in Thursday’s contest. She posed some resistance in the opening set against Wickmayer but a poor performance in the second set left her nowhere in the competition.
Wickmayer drew first blood in the fourth game of the match and held her serve to propel the scores to 4-1 in her favour. Halep’s cracking reply came in the seventh game but Wickmayer constructed another vital serve break in the
10th game to close out the first set at 6-4.
Once getting her winning impetus, Wickmayer ignited the second set with all guns blazing. The top seed broke the Romanian serve in every single game, giving absolutely no chance get settled in the contest. She secured eight out
of 10 first serve points in the set and nailed three break points to dispose of Halep in the most assertive fashion. She barely took 20 minutes to wind up the second set at 6-0, earning a place in the semi-finals of the Moorilla Hobart International.
Wickmayer will compete against the sixth seed Israeli, Shahar Peer, in the round of four to earn a title shot in the final of the event.
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