This year’s Australian Open semifinalist Simona Halep came back from one set down to edge Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur 1-6 6-2 7-6 (9-7) in two hours reaching the quarter final at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
Halep opened up a 4-1 lead in the third set, but Jabeur came back by winning five of the next six games to take a 6-5 lead. Halep broke back to love to set up a tie-break. Halep reeled off five of the six points from 1-2 down in the tie-break to earn three match points.
Jabeur saved all three opportunities and brought up a match point at 7-6 when Halep hit a backhand long. The Tunisian player hit a forehand into the net at 7-7 and made another forehand error on the next point to give Halep a fourth match point. The Romanian player converted her chance when Jabeur hit her stroke over the baseline.
Halep set up a quarter final match against Aryna Sabalenka, who beat Elise Mertens. Sabalenka beat Halep 6-4 6-2 in the quarter finals in Adelaide.
“It was like a football match or a Fed Cup match. I did not really realize what is going on on court. Everyone was with with a lot of energy so we had to give our best. It was a great match. In the end I don’t know how I could finish that in a right way. It was up and down a lot because she does not give rhythm. It was very weird, but I was happy that I could win”, said Halep.
