On Friday, former Wimbledon winner Simona Halep defeated British player Katie Boulter in straight sets to go to the semifinals of the grass-court competition being held by the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) in Birmingham (Jun 17).
After advancing over Alison Riske in the first round of the Wimbledon warm-up event and then eliminating Caroline Garcia, a former top-10 player, Boulter was playing some of the greatest tennis of her career in the competition.
However, the second-seeded Halep emerged victorious in the match with a 6-4, 6-1 score.
The Romanian player, who is now 30 years old, did not, however, have everything go her way in the opening set of the very competitive match.
In the first eight matches, Boulter and Halep finished in a tie for second place, despite the fact that Boulter had just returned after an almost three-month absence due to a leg injury in Nottingham the previous week.
To her credit, the 25-year-old player fought off three break points when the score was at 4-4, but she committed a double fault on the fourth point.
That turned out to be the signal for Halep to surge ahead and win the match, which took place on grass for the first time since she defeated Serena Williams in the final of the 2019 Wimbledon tournament in straight sets.
Sorana Cirstea made it a day of double joy for Romania by advancing to the semifinals and beating Donna Vekic in three sets (5-7, 6-3, 6-4). This victory brought Sorana back from being down a set in the match.
After Zhang Shuai defeated Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine 7-5, 6-4, she will play Cirstea in the semifinals of the competition. Cirstea’s opponent will be Zhang Shuai.