Fifth seed Simona Halep survived her toughest test yet at Wimbledon, battling back to edge big-hitting American Madison Keys in three sets. It was the ninth seed who narrowly took the opening set but the former semifinalist at the All-England Club fought back to claim the last two to book her place in the quarterfinals with a 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-3 win.
Keys wins wild opener in tiebreak
The match started out with both women cruising on serve. Neither woman faced much pressure through the early stages of the first set, with only one of the first eight games so much as requiring a deuce. After a set with few opportunities, it was Halep who would make the first move. Up 30-15, Keys would hit back to back unforced errors to give the Romanian the first break point of the match, which she converted with a winner to give herself a chance to serve for the set.
The American wasted no time in replying, pouring pressure on the Halep serve and being gifted a break point after a double fault. While she failed to convert that one, she would bring up a second at 40-AD and ripped a winner to level the set. It did not last, as Halep would break to love in the following game, only for Keys to break back to send the set to a tiebreak. The breaker would be the opposite of the set as the American would score a minibreak on the second point and that was all she would need as the rest of the tiebreak went with serve and Keys took it 7-5.
Momentum swings land with Halep
It appeared that the momentum carried over from the opening set as Keys raced ahead 0-40 and converted her second break point to grab a break at the start of the second. She consolidated for a 2-0 lead. Halep got on the board with a hold to love before making her move on return. Pouring the pressure on Keys, Halep would hold four break points, three of them at 40-AD, converting the fourth by drawing an error to put the set back on serve at 2-2.
Keys jumped back on Halep quickly in an attempt to regain the lead, forcing multiple deuces and holding a break point in the following game. But she could not convert and the fifth seed held for a 3-2 lead. Two games later, Halep had to fight back from 0-40 down and save another break point at 40-AD before holding. The missed opportunities would come to haunt Keys as she served to stay in the set at 4-5. From 30-15, the American would hit back to back unforced errors to give Halep set point, which she received as a gift courtesy of a third straight unforced error from Keys.
Halep hangs on for victory
The Romanian tried to make the third set an inverse of the second, holding a break point for a 2-0 lead in the third but Keys would blast a winner to keep the set level at 1-1. The next three games would result in easy holds until Keys was serving at 2-3. Halep would power to a 15-40 lead and broke without having to hit a ball as the American double-faulted. That lone break was all the fifth seed would need as she took care of her next two service games with holds to 30 to clinch her place in the last eight.
By the numbers
Both women were solid on serve. The difference was their break point conversion rate. They each held nine break points in the match, with Halep converting five while Keys only managed three. Despite having a massive in advantage in winners, 32 to 13, Keys will be left to regret nearly five times as many unforced errors as her opponent, hitting 48 to Halep’s 10.
Halep will take on Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber in the quarterfinals.