When the fourth and fifth seed of any tournament meet-up, the chances are that you are going to be in for a close, high-end match. That was proven on Thursday, when Simona Halep managed to crash out of the Nature Valley International when she fell to fourth seed Angelique Kerber. As one of the biggest clashes of the tournament, Kerber put on a tremendous show to overcome her brilliant Romanian opponent on the day.
With a 71% serve and a very impressive set of five converted break points, she waltzed through to the last four with a 6-4, 6-3 win. Going into the game, Halep was the minor favourite, despite being lower down the seeds than her opponents. Having started fasted and performing like a runaway train throughout the match, Halep never really had the time to get herself ready for the match – as such, she managed to suffer for most of the game and eventually crashed out in an exciting match.
With the three-time Grand Slam winner Kerber getting to the last four in her last four grass court events, though, it’s fair to say that Halep had her work cut out for her. With the form that Kerber has picked up presently, it would take a brave tennis fan to bet against her going all the way in what is one of the major tournaments of the grass season. For Halep, the hard work begins all over again starting today.
