If Ashleigh Barty is to become the first Australian to win the women’s title since Christine O’Neill 42 years ago, she more than likely will have to beat Simona Halep, the only player in either draw yet to lose a set this fortnight.
Barty’s first challenge is in the second semi-final on Thursday, when she plays the vibrant American world No 14, Sofia Kenin, who was too strong for the Tunisian, Ons Jabeur, in her quarter-final on Tuesday, winning in straight sets in an hour-and-a-half.
But Halep has hit an altogether more frightening level of excellence from day one. Twice in her life she has flirted with what passes for perfection in tennis. The first time was last summer in the final at Wimbledon when she embarrassed the greatest player of all time, Serena Williams, in 56 minutes. She allowed the owner of 23 majors just four games that afternoon.
The second storm of unstoppable Romanian brilliance arrived here on Wednesday when Halep marmalised Anett Kontaveit in 53 minutes, the third quickest match of the draw so far, to book a place in the first semi-final on Thursday, against Garbiñe Muguruza, who had a straightforward 7-5, 6-3 win over the Russian, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
In the first quarter-final on a warm, humid Wednesday, Kontaveit, coached by Andy Murray’s father-in-law, Nigel Sears, strained to stay in the fight, hitting 15 winners, and saving five of 11 break points, but she won only two games, so dominant was Halep in the key moments.
“Perfection doesn’t exist,” Halep said later, “but I’m very happy with the way I played. I felt great on court. I was moving great. I felt the ball really, really good. It was a great match.”
The view from the other side of the net confirmed how well Halep played. “Simona played an incredible match,” Kontaveit said. “I was trying everything. She was just so strong today. I couldn’t find a weapon. I was trying to be aggressive, but couldn’t hit through her.”
Halep looks fresh and fit, and sounds relaxed and confident, which hasn’t always been the case in a career that had a lot of early lows followed by many encouraging highs. The world No 3 is in a good place, and that is bad news for the other three players left in the championship. Whoever she plays, she must be favourite to add the Australian Open to her two slams, from Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
Halep says of the prospect of playing Barty in the final: “She’s improving in everything. She has great form. The slice is amazing for the girl’s game. She’s serving well, even if she’s not very tall. We are actually the same. She’s very talented. She has self-confidence at a very high level now.”
Barty, meanwhile, has had to fight her way through a couple of tight spots; she lost the first set of her journey, to the unseeded Lesia Tsurenko, and she dropped a set, 1-6, against Alison Riske in the fourth round.
Halep has spent only six hours and 44 minutes on court in some times draining conditions, although it was much warmer here two years ago when Caroline Wozniacki beat her in three sets to win her only major. That whole tournament was a struggle for everyone, and few suffered more than Halep, who took three hours and 44 minutes to get rid of the American Lauren Davis.
“It’s better now, though,” she said. “I feel energy going to the semi-finals. I feel more confident. I feel my game. Tomorrow is going to be a tough one, I know that. I expect a very difficult match. But it’s semi-finals, so it should be like that.”
Muguruza has campaigned here eight times and has reached the quarter-finals for only the second time. The abiding memory of the Spaniard from a year ago was her win over Johanna Konta in the second round, which started at 12.30am, the latest ever for a match at the Australian Open.
She arrived in Melbourne unseeded at a major for the first time since at Roland Garros six years ago, but has occasionally played like the double-slam champion she is.
“You struggle as a player, and there are moments where things don’t go your way,” she said. “You just have to be patient and go through the rough moments, hang in there and it will come back again.”
It could do. Probably, though, it will not be good enough to just, “hang in there” against Halep, who has the swagger of a champion again.
