DUBAI — Two-time champion Simona Halep of Romania charged into the semi-finals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, defeating No.8 seed Ons Jabeur of Tunisia 6-4, 6-3.
Former World No.1 Halep, currently ranked No.23, took an hour and 20 minutes to fend off 10th-ranked Jabeur. With the victory, Halep improved her 2022 win-loss record to a sterling 11-1.
The most recent meeting between Halep and Jabeur also took place in Dubai, where Halep needed two-and-a-half hours to beat Jabeur in a third-set tiebreak in the 2020 second round. Halep went on to win her second Dubai title that year (her first came in 2015).
This time, Halep prevailed in straight sets, continuing her strong start to the season. The two-time Grand Slam champion is into her second semi-final of 2022, having already won a title at Melbourne Summer Set 1 in January.
Her only loss so far this year came against Alizé Cornet in the Australian Open round of 16. “A very tough match, even if it’s in two sets, it felt much harder than that,” Halep said on court, after her win.
“I had in my mind bigtime the match from 2020, it was so close and I knew I’d have to fight till the end.
“I’ve been focused on what I have to do, actually, and I wanted just to push [Jabeur] back because she has such a big game,” Halep noted according to wtatennis.com.
A back-and-forth first set saw Halep twice up an early break before Jabeur made a late charge with her crafty play and sturdy returns. Jabeur broke Halep when the Romanian served for the set at 5-3, and the Tunisian would go on to hold a game point for 5-5.
However, Halep eventually prevailed in that game to eke out the first set. Although Halep also fell behind by an early break in the second set, she went on to notch six of the last seven games overall.
Halep got far more of her first serves into play than Jabeur, (63 per cent to Jabeur’s 53 per cent) and won 65 per cent of those points to pull her way to victory. Jabeur won just 53 per cent of her first-service points, and was broken five times in the match.
Halep’s win lines up an exciting semifinal encounter where she will face World No.21 Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia. In their first meeting, Ostapenko stunned favorite Halep in the 2017 Roland Garros final to win her first Grand Slam title.
Halep exacted a measure of revenge by winning their second clash, which came later that season in the Beijing semifinals. This will be their first meeting since then.
Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic, meanwhile, completed the semifinal lineup in Dubai by defeating Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine 7-5, 6-4 in the nightcap quarter-final.
World No.38 Vondrousova, last year’s Olympic silver medallist in women’s singles, took an hour and 41 minutes to oust 146th-ranked Yastremska, in a battle between qualifiers who have both previously reached the Top 25.
Vondrousova becomes just the third qualifier to reach the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships semi-finals in the event’s history. A qualifier has never reached the final of this tournament.
2019 Roland Garros runner-up Vondrousova was forced to mount a comeback in the opening set, as Yastremska led 5-3 and held a set point in that game. But the Czech was able to turn the opener around and win five games on the trot to steal the one-set lead.
The second set was also closely contested, as Vondrousova faced a break point while serving for the match at 5-4.
But Yastremska fired a service return wide on that chance, and Vondrousova held onto that game to collect the win and improve to 2-1 against Yastremska.
‘Unvaccinated Djokovic can compete at Italian Open’
Italian Sports Minister Valentina Vezzali said that world number one Novak Djokovic would be allowed to participate in the Italian Open as outdoor events do not require a person to be vaccinated against Covid-19.
Djokovic said he was prepared to miss Grand Slams such as the French Open and Wimbledon rather than have a Covid-19 jab after he was deported shortly before the Australian Open due to his unvaccinated status.
“It is an outdoor sport and the tighter green pass is not required,” Vezzali told Italian newspaper Libero.
“So if Djokovic wants to come to Italy to play, he will be able to do so. Maybe without visiting hotels and restaurants,” Vezzali added according to Reuters
Earlier this month, Italy’s government lifted an obligation to wear masks outdoors under most circumstances in response to an improving coronavirus situation.
The Italian Open is set to take place in Rome from May 2-15. Australian Open champion Rafa Nadal beat Djokovic in last year’s final in Rome.
Elsewhere, Alex de Minaur has sought to clear his name amid reports he was being investigated for buying a falsified Covid-19 vaccination certificate, with the Australian saying he is ‘100 per cent clear’ he has taken two shots.
Media reports alleged the 23-year-old bought a falsified certificate to prove he had taken two shots of the Covid-19 vaccine.
“I received my first dose of the vaccine in London last summer and the second one at the Hospital La Paz in Madrid,” De Minaur wrote on Twitter.
“News came out today that the hospital is under investigation for providing falsified Covid certificates to some of its patients. I want to make it 100 per cent clear that I received my second shot, that I have a completely valid, accurate and true vaccination record.
“I am not “under investigation” in any way as is being suggested and my name is connected to this story simply because I was a patient at the hospital (as many thousands of others were).”
De Minaur was knocked out in the fourth round of last month’s Australian Open.
The season-opening Grand Slam required players to show proof of vaccination to compete — a rule that led to unvaccinated world number one Novak Djokovic being deported.
The ATP Tour’s rule book states submitting a falsified Covid-19 vaccination record amounts to a violation of its code and is punishable by a fine of up to $100,000 and/or suspension from its tournaments for a period of up to three years.
