Former Wimbledon champion Simona Halep has been knocked out of the Adelaide International
Former World No. 1 and Wimbledon champ Simona Halep has been bundled out of the Adelaide International by rising star Aryna Sabalenka and another top female seed has also been dumped.
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Fourth seed Belinda Bencic has become the latest shock causality of the Adelaide International, after going down to American Danielle Collins in straight sets.
Only three seeded players remain in the women’s draw after the Swiss World No. 7 was rolled by Collins, ranked 27 in the world, 6-3, 6-1.
Former World No. 1 and Wimbledon champion Simona Halep was earlier bundled out of the Adelaide International after a shock and awe performance from No. 6 seed Aryna Sabalenka.
The World No. 12 from Belarus was just too powerful for the crowd favourite Halep, mainly because of her Adelaide-born coach Darren Cahill, knocking off the current World No. 4 6-4, 6-2.
Before their quarterfinal clash, Sabalenka told of how she was gunning for the World No. 1 ranking as a tribute for her recently deceased father Sergey who passed away in November at the age of 43.
On centre court at Memorial Drive the 21-year-old, who stands at six feet tall and with broad shoulders, showed she has the game to potentially achieve that with her heavy ground strokes on either side too much for Halep to handle.
After trading breaks early in the match, Sabalenka took a 4-2 lead in the first but Halep broke back.
The rising star did not let that affect her though, two clean winners off both sides in a row off Halep’s serve gave her the first set 6-4.
She looked like she would run away with the second when she went 5-0 up and hand Halep a heavy loss.
But the Romanian did win two quick games, to give the crowd some hope, but Sabalenka would not be denied a place in the semi finals and a huge scalp.
In Adelaide through a wildcard, prompted by a poor showing at the Shenzhen Open, the Belarusian said she was very happy to get the win over Halep - just her fifth victory over a top five player.
“It was actually a tough match, I knew she would fight towards the end. When the score was 5-0 I knew she would try and do everything to get back into the match so I wasn’t too disappointed that I gave up two games,” she said.
“After the first week in Shenzhen I didn’t feel really well on the court so I’m really happy that I got a wildcard here and some opportunities to play some matches especially ahead of the Australian Open.
“Especially to play in that spirit, it helps me a lot.”
The former World No. 9’s brute power was on full show against Halep, recording 30 winners to the Romanian’s 12.
This came with just the 10 unforced errors and Sabalenka said she was starting to find the sweet spot of controlling her fierce power.
“Somewhere in the middle (of controlling her power) it depends on the day, some days it feels like everything is under control other days I feel like I can’t control it so somewhere in the middle so it’s a good balance,” she said.
Sabalenka has a noticeable tattoo of a tiger on her left arm, and said when she heard Katy Perry’s ‘Roar’ - which mentions the fierce jungle cat in the chorus - played by the stadium PA it only gave her further motivation to knock off Halep.
Outside on Show Court 1, Collins raced out of the blocks to take an early lead against Bencic - who struggled on Wednesday night to overcome German Julia Goerges in two tiebreaks.
She took the first 6-3 and was even more dominant in the second, racing to victory 6-1.
Bencic let her frustration known at the umpire on her way out after the match, while Collins will wait to see who she plays out of Australia’s World No. 1 Ash Barty and No. 8 seed Marketa Vondrousova for a place in the final.
EARLIER
Two strategic coaches time-outs proved to be inspired calls by young gun Dayana Yastremska as she became the first female into the Adelaide International semi-final stage.
Twice she beckoned her highly respected coach Sascha Bajin – who guided Naomi Osaka to two grand slam titles – to her side on-court.
And the immediate result was the same each time as she broke the serve of spirited Croatian Donna Vekic to win their quarter-final clash at Memorial Drive 6-4, 6-3.
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Vekic, who had played two gruelling three-setters on the way to the quarterfinals, elected to serve when winning the toss.
It looked like a plan that backfired when after holding her own serve in the first game of the match Yastremska broke her in just the second game.
But just when it looked like the 19-year-old, who the previous day was a set and 2-0 up against former Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber before the German retired, would run away with the first set she let Vekic back in via a crucial double fault on serve.
Thus begun a fierce baseline battle between the two, before the first of Yastremska’s ultimately inspired decision.
At 5-4 up in the set, she called for Bajin for advice and the very next game broke the serve of Vekic - who took out her anger on her racquet - to take the seesawing first set.
Yastremska, who is now into the semi final at a major WTA tournament for the first time, said Bajin just told her to focus on the simple aspects of her game.
“He just said I had to be a bit lower and have more discipline and that I had been hesitating on the shots, I just tried to do them and it worked well,” she said.
“(Her and Bajin have worked on) on everything… we were working on everything, serves, returns, forehand, backhands, tactics everything (since linking up late last year).”
Vekic composed herself and went toe-to-toe with the Ukrainian, but couldn’t get the important break.
After it worked in the first set Yastremska tried her tactic again, calling for Bajin when up 4-3 in the second.
She began the next game with a powerful forehand winner and quickly brought up two breakpoints and went 5-3 up at the first opportunity.
There was no problem on her serve as she closed the game out and now awaits the winner of No. 2 seed and former Wimbledon winner Simona Halep and Belarusian No. 6 seed Aryna Sabalenka for a place in the final.
She said she wanted to play the former World No. 1 Romanian, saying she isn’t at all daunted by taking on the best.
“How do I feel? (about taking on the best in the world) simple normal the higher level you go the higher player you play,” she said.
“I don’t really deal with who I’m playing I just try and focus on myself I play with the ball I don’t care who is on the opposite side of the court.”