SteemSports Presenter:
SteemSports Editor:
What a final! It might not have been the best quality tennis, but the drama and determination of both Halep and Wozniacki made this match into one of the greatest women Grand Slam finals in recent years. Of course, we could not expect less from the world's number one and two, who were fighting for their first Grand Slams. Rodger Federer said before the match that he would love to be in the position of both Wozniacki and Halep because winning the first Grand Slam title is probably the best feeling in the world. Well, let's hope Caroline agrees with him, but from those tears of joy, I am sure that she does!
The match took Simona Halep by surprise as it looked that her body was on the court, but her mind was somewhere else. That and some aggressive shots helped Wozniacki claim an early lead 5-2, and it looked like this might be a super fast final. However, when Simona had nothing to lose, she started hitting that ball with more pace and depth, finding her way back into this first set. She even broke Wozniacki's serve and made the score 5-5. It looked as if Halep would use the momentum and break again but Wozniacki held to love, putting the pressure back to Halep, who also held her serve. I bet that the fans in Australia were super happy to see the tiebreaker in the final. Sadly, it was not super exciting as Wozniacki simply destroyed Halep and won the tiebreaker 7-2.
In the second set, both girls raised the level of the game a little, and after Simona saved four break points early on in the set, both players had no opportunities to break. However, as the match went on, Halep's legs were less and less suitable for running, and she even started limping at some point. I seriously thought that it was over, but somehow, against all odds, Simona broke Wozniacki's serve with a couple of aggressive winners down the line and deserved a chance to serve for the set. It took 14 points and extreme composure and strength for Simona to win the deciding game, but she did that. And that is when the umpire called a 10 minutes break due to the heat in Melbourne.
If someone thought that the third set would be one-way traffic, they were wrong. Both players came out hard at each other, even though it was obvious that after two weeks of playing, their bodies were half dead. In the first six games, both players broke each other for two times and the scoreboard showed 3-3. That is when Simona Halep broke Wozniacki's service game again, took the lead 4-3 and the momentum was clearly on her side.
At this time, after losing three games in a row, Wozniacki took a medical timeout and indicated that her knee was injured. It might have also been just a clever trick to slow down the game and refocus. Either way, this medical timeout worked like a charm for Wozniacki and she simply destroyed Halep in the last 3 games, winning the match 7-6 (7-2) 4-6 6-4. Wozniacki was a little better on the decisive points and it is only fair that she won her first Grand Slam title and got her position as number one in the world back. I cannot imagine how happy must Wozniacki be now, but I hope that this will last long! As for Halep, she showed the world that she is ready to win titles and next time, when her body will be as fit as her mind, she will take that damn Grand Slam title at last.
She truly deserves it, doesn't she?
