Melbourne: Serena Williams subdued a stubborn fightback from World No.1 Simona Halep to take her quest for a record-equalling 24th major into the Australian Open quarterfinals Monday.
The 37-year-old American beat the Romanian top seed 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 in an epic three-setter to line up a last eight clash with Czech eighth seed Karolina Pliskova.
It was Williams’ first match against a World No.1 since returning after having a baby in September 2017 and the American showed why many already regard her as the greatest of all time.
Williams won her 23rd Grand Slam Down Under two years ago while two months pregnant and is the bookies’ favourite to claim an eighth Australian Open title, despite being seeded 16th.
Another major would match Margaret Court’s tally and an intensely-focused Williams had not dropped a set in three matches before meeting Halep.
Williams’ started slowly when she allowed Halep to bring up three break points in the opening game. But the American broke back in the next. She then ran away with the first set 6-1 in 20 minutes.
Halep did better early in the second set, and when the American did break her in the third game she immediately broke back.
Standing well behind the baseline, she drew Williams into more rallies and began to find her range, hitting the corners to move the American around. Halep broke again to take a set off Williams.
The turning point came in the sixth game of the third set when Halep clawed three break points but Williams held and took a decisive break in the fifth.
The other round of 16 match saw Pliskova played her best tennis to beat Spain’s Garbine Muguruza 6-3, 6-1 in an hour and move into the last eight. Muguruza, seeded 18th, could only stay afloat early in the first set when she broke her seventh-seed opponent for the only time.
Among others, Japanese Naomi Osaka and Ukrainian Elina Svitolina defeated Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova and Madison Keys of the US, respectively. US Open champion Osaka won 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 against Sevastova. Svitolina, on the other hand, upstaged Keys 6-2, 1-6, 6-2.