Simona Halep will take on Angelique Kerber in the Australian Open semi-finals
World No 1 Halep hammers Karolina Pliskova while Kerber destroys Madison Keys to set up semi-final blockbuster
Thursday 24 May 2018 14:20, UK
Top seed Simona Halep will take on former Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber for a place in the final after both convincingly won through to the final four.
Halep recovered from an early break to win nine straight games in a 6-3 6-2 win over Karolina Pliskova, while 2016 champion Kerber crushed US Open finalist Madison Keys 6-1 6-2.
World No 1 Halep, still without a Grand Slam title, overcame a nervous start to cruise past sixth seed Pliskova.
The Romanian trailed 3-0 but battened down the hatches to reel off the next nine games on her way to the semi-finals.
This is Halep's best run in Melbourne, and the 26-year-old said: "It's really nice to be in the semis. I've been in the semis of juniors in 2008.
"For sure it wasn't my best start but I just knew I have to restart to stop missing and moving better, which I did pretty well. Then I started to open the court and play my style. I served well so everything went pretty well for me."
The first quarter-final was a similar clash of styles between the ball-crunching talents of Keys and Kerber's exceptional counter-punching abilities.
But from the start there only appeared to be one winner as Kerber not only defended superbly but turned that into attack.
She hit 13 winners, the same number as her opponent, while Keys made 25 unforced errors compared to just seven from Kerber as she blasted the American in just 51 minutes.
Keys had only won one of their previous seven matches and had failed to win a set in the last three, but none of them had been quite like this.
The 22-year-old threatened to mount a recovery when she pulled back from 3-0 to 3-2 in the second but, after her serve was broken again in the next game, the match quickly went away from her and Kerber wrapped up victory in just 51 minutes.
The German, who endured such a miserable 2017 after her brilliant 2016, is now guaranteed to return to the top 10 and extended her winning streak to 10 matches.
Kerber said: "It's always tough to play against Madison, she's hitting the ball so hard. I was just trying from the beginning like I played the whole week, just going out there playing my game and trying to enjoy it.
"Always when I play here I feel such great memories. I'm just happy to get through and to be again in the semis here."
