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Simona Halep and Her Inside Power

By Clinton Trueman

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Sep 9, 2015; New York, NY, USA; Simona Halep of Romania celebrates after defeating Victoria Azarenka of Belarus on day ten of the 2015 U.S. Open tennis tournament at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports

US Open Player of Day Ten: Simona Halep

So I guess Simona Halep’s grand slam results in 2015 won’t ALL be bad?

To put it nicely, Halep’s grand slam runs this year have been wanting. After a French Open final appearance and Wimbledon semifinal appearance in 2014, the pressure of matching her previous achievements seemed to weigh down the compact Romanian. As a result, her runs in Paris and Wimbledon were ended prematurely.

After such disappointing results on the biggest stages of tennis, many questioned how Halep could compete well at the year’s final grand slam in New York.

But on day ten of the US Open, Simona Halep transcended her dwindling grand slam fortunes of late and reached a maiden US Open semifinal with a rousing 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 victory over Victoria Azarenka.

In a major featuring so many tight, high-quality clashes – Kerber vs Azarenka, Serena vs Venus – the quarterfinal match between Victoria Azarenka and Simona Halep stands out as one of the very best. It perhaps didn’t reach the lofty heights of the Kerber-Azarenka match (Vika’s first set against Halep was a bit messy), but it proved a definitive conclusion to the round-of-8 encounters from the past 2 days.

The greatest feature of the match, despite her thigh injury, was perhaps Halep. The Romanian delivered arguably her best performance of the year to take out the woman who held a 2-0 career advantage over her. Her winners total was over double that of her unforced errors – 40 to 19 – and she possessed an enviable first serve percentage of 76%.

Vika also played her part in an outstanding contest. Although her first set was littered with errors, the Belarusian was more effective throughout the bigger points of the match than Halep. Azarenka’s break point conversion in the match was a perfect 100%. Halep’s was 29%.

Of course, a big talking point of the match was the storm warning that interrupted play for close to 2 hours. The match was on serve in the third set when the two women were forced to exit the court. Upon resurfacing Halep’s aggressive, solid play stood in stark contrast to Azarenka’s more passive approach. Would that have been the case if nature hadn’t intervened?

But upon coming back onto court after the impromptu intermission, and indeed throughout the entire match, Halep demonstrated what is now a common theme of her post-match summaries: the quality of ‘Inside Power’. Inhabiting this abstract characteristic may just be what has allowed her to progress past her aforementioned letdowns at the previous two grand slams. That is if her performance over the last fortnight is anything to go by.

Responding to Flavia Pennetta’s comments about Halep’s surprising physical strength, the Romanian once again referenced her ‘Inside Power’: her inherent quality to fight, and grit her way through matches. It’s something that she showcased against Lisicki in the fourth round, coming from the brink of losing to win in three sets despite a thigh injury and cramping back.

It was on display again yesterday. Although she was nursing the same injury that hindered her against Lisicki, Halep appeared fresher than her opponent. Her vocal self-motivations were fierce. Even though her height stagnated at 7-inches below her opponent, her swings and groundstrokes were more stinging.

And it likely compensated for the aspects of her game that required improvement: her failure to convert break points consistently and refusal to approach the net were conspicuously problematic against Azarenka. But for every physical movement on court, there seemed to be an internal counterpart – a power from inside – forcing her to continue.

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Halep will await the 33 year-old version of herself in the quarterfinals: Pennetta. Although Halep defeated Pennetta in Miami this year, the Italian owns a win in New York over the world no. 2 from back in 2013. As evidenced by her numerous semifinal runs on the hard courts in Flushing Meadows, Pennetta’s game seems to flourish at the US Open. And although Halep will be the favourite heading into the match, Pennetta is by no means an easy out. Her backhand is as excellent as Halep’s. Their serves are both solid, if not remarkable. And their lateral movement across the court is unsurpassable.

So perhaps the deciding factor of their match will be Halep’s determination and fighting spirit. Indeed, perhaps it will be the Romanian’s ‘Inside Power’ that sees her through to a second grand slam final after a string of weak showings.

Regardless of what happens against Pennetta, Simona Halep is our Player of the Day for Day Ten at the US Open, not only for participating in one of the matches of the tournament, but for showing us her ‘Inside Power’ in the process.

Former Players of the Day

Day Nine: Venus & Serena Williams

Day Eight: Kevin Anderson

Day Seven: Kristina Mladenovic

Day Six: Victoria Azarenka

Day Five: Fabio Fognini

Day Four: Johanna Konta

Day Three: Madison Keys

Day Two: Caroline Wozniacki

Day One: Benoit Paire

Who do you think was the best player of day ten of the US Open? Let us know in the comments below!

Next: Power Ranking Serena Williams and the Top 25 Women Before the US Open

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