A though match for the Romanian fans saw two Romanians players facing each other in the Madrid quarterfinals, where only one could move on to the next round. In the end, it was Simona Halep who managed to get past external frustrations and get the win against Irina-Camelia Begu.
Halep started the match better as she was the fresher player. The 2014 Madrid finalist spent only a quarter of the amount of time Begu did on court this week. Begu was coming after three matches where she had to overcome her opponents in grueling three setter battles. Halep, on the other hand, didn’t lose a set until this match, and she had only dropped ten games during a flying run to the quarterfinals.
Halep takes the first set in straightforward manner
Halep broke first and managed to hold her serve immediately. On the other side, Begu had a more difficult time on the serve, as Halep was returning really aggressively, always putting on a lot of pressure. Begu often tried to capitalize on Halep’s serve and even got three break points in the sixth game, but Halep wasn’t willing to give up the lead and saved them by winning four consecutive points.
After managing to hold, Adrian Cruciat, Begu’s coach, came down to tell her to play more freely, that Halep is now just waiting for her to miss, and that just because she is playing Halep she doesn’t have to hesitate when going for her shots.
Changes were seen on the return, as Begu was trying to be more aggressive, but every time she got surprised by the depth of Halep’s balls. The forehand was a big weapon for Halep, who was putting her whole body weight into the shots, an attitude of commitment and desire to finish the set on her terms. As Begu was serving to stay in the set at 5-3, Halep showed no mercy and managed to break and close the set right there.
Begu was nowhere close to causing problems on Halep's serve. She had those three break points, but never seemed to be able to apply more pressure. At the other end, Halep seemed more determined, with a clearer vision, always in control, putting errors behind her and minding her own business.
Halep loses her grove and Begu takes advantage
Things turned against Halep quickly. She got broken in the first game of the second set, and then Begu started to outhit her and to push her behind the baseline. From this moment on, the errors started to multiply. Both were engaging in longer rallies and covering the court really were, but to Halep's frustration, she was broken again.
At 3-0 drown, Halep called Darren Cahill and seemed to be bothered by a lot of things. She started complaining about the fact that Begu is being coached during the points, that the wind is strong and she isn’t able to play her tennis anymore. Cahill immediately tried to help her refocus on what she needed to do on court; to open the court with the backhand cross-court and to push her shots more against the breeze. “Let’s make it about you and your game” Cahill said as Simona continued to mumble complaints about Begu being told what to do during the points.
Nothing seemed to calm Halep down. She started to rush every point, to hit harder, not creating angles, getting angrier as everything was going against her. She lost the set 0-6 without Begu doing anything different from the first set, except maybe being a little more engaged in the match. Halep won only 31 percent of points with her first serve, had no break points, won only one return point on Begu’s first serve, and made nine unforced errors while Begu only made one.
Halep finds her Zen mode again and seals the deal
Halep put an awful second set behind her and managed to hold her serve at love to start the decider and then broke on her second chance. Everything was back on track for the only remaining seed in Madrid, as her attitude was completely changing. She calmed herself down, started to take more time to prepare for the points and to ignore external factors which had played tricks with her mind in the second set.
After taking a 4-1 lead, Halep was more determined to put pressure on Begu, who started struggling and not being able to play well in the important moments. Halep was on a mission to end the match as quickly as possible.
Halep was opening the court, her shots were more precise, she was a lot more patient when it came to finish off the points. When serving for the match, Halep went to 30-0, then Begu managed to come back due to a good couple of returns, but in the end Halep sealed her spot into the Madrid Open semifinals with a jumping backhand winner.
Simona Halep is now one match away from another Madrid final, and her chances to get the title are higher than never. Right after she finished the match, Halep declared the following: “I am really happy that I could win today, it wasn’t my best day, I was very nervous, and sorry for my attitude everyone. It was bad, but you know, when you finish in the right way, you are always happy. So I’m enjoying this tournament and I am waiting for tomorrow’s match”.
When asked about which player she would like to meet, Simona replayed: “I don’t have any preferences, just want to play the semifinals. If it’s going to be a Romanian again, it’s going to be good for our country. So, I’m also waiting the crowd tomorrow to support me. It’s really nice to play here in Madrid and I feel good”.
She will play Australia's Samantha Stosur in the semifinals.