Former Wimbledon champion Simona Halep produced a hugely impressive display to reach the semi-finals as she beat Amanda Anisimova in just over an hour.
The 2019 winner, who is now working with Serena Williams’ former coach Patrick Mouratoglou, will next face Russian-born Kazakhstani player Elena Rybakina in the semi-final.
The 30-year-old broke Anisimova, 20, twice in each set on her way to a 6-2 6-4 victory on Centre Court in just over an hour.
„It is great to be back in the semi-finals,” Halep said after holding off a late Anisimova rally to reach the last-four.
„I am very emotional right now – it means a lot. I played a tough opponent today, she can crush the ball and I didn’t know what to do. But I believed in myself, and I had to stay there strong on my legs – they helped me today.”
It did not take long for Halep to break. After a game each, Anisimova erred at 30-40 with a forehand into the net.
The Romanian consolidated with a hold and then broke again in her opponent’s next game, controlling the pace well as an error-prone Anisimova, playing her first quarter-final at Wimbledon, struggled to assert her naturally aggressive style on the match.
Halep dominated the court and Anisimova could not settle into rhythm, continuing to battle for consistency on both forehand and backhand and failing to force Halep to regularly win points.
Frustrated by the game, Anisimova was broken twice early in the second set, striking her racquet bag forcefully after another error handed Halep a three-game lead.
Halep beat Serena Williams to win Wimbledon in 2019. The tournament was canceled the next year due to the pandemic and she was forced to miss last year’s tournament due to a calf injury.
