Sports

Halep dashes new mum Azarenka's comeback dreams

Halep dashes new mum Azarenka's comeback dreams

By REUTERS

Romaniau2019s Simona Halep in action during her fourth round match against Belarusu2019 Victoria Azarenka. Photo: Reuters

LONDON: Simona Halep sent new mum Victoria Azarenka packing 7-6(3) 6-2 in the fourth round on Monday as a litany of second-set errors put paid to the Belarussian's dreams of a fairytale Wimbledon comeback. Azarenka, playing in her second tournament after the birth of her son Leo in December, out-hit and out-thought the second-seeded Romanian for much of a pulsating first set, mixing deep groundstrokes with frequent dropshots and forays to the net. But the two-times semi-finalist at the All England Club began to flag in the first-set tiebreak, losing it 7-3 before conceding the next five games. A mini fightback pegged the second-set deficit back to 5-2 before another Azarenka backhand groundstroke error saw Halep home in just under 90 minutes, keeping alive the Romanian's hopes of a maiden grand slam victory and an ascent to the world number one ranking. Halep will face Britain's Johanna Konta in the quarter- finals.