Simona Halep is a reignited force, brilliantly redefining herself on the Wimbledon grass where she once felt so insecure. Having broken her Grand Slam hoodoo at Roland-Garros last year, she then found herself unable to recapture the hunger of old, set further adrift perhaps by the decision of her coaching mentor, Darren Cahill, to take a year's break in 2019.
Yet in the last four here, Halep superbly adapted her clay skills to dismiss Elina Svitolina 6-1, 6-3 and become the first Romanian woman to reach a singles final in SW19. In the final she will meet Serena Williams. The pair have met ten times with Halep winning once, in 2015, in Singapore.
“It’s an amazing feeling – one of the best moments of my life,” Halep told the BBC as she left the Centre Court. “It was not easy but I fought very hard to win this match. She’s always tough, but I played the right tactics and was very strong mentally and physically.
"I have more experience than five years ago [when she lost to Eugenie Bouchard at the same stage] and have learned many things. I’m not giving up any more. I really want to win every match. It doesn’t matter who I play in the final. I’ll be on the Centre Court at Wimbledon and I cannot ask for more.”
Someone else will surely be there, too. How significant was it that Darren Cahill could not bear to be absent for this semi-final? He was not in Halep’s player box, respectfully making way there for Daniel Dobre, the Romanian’s mentor since Miami this year. But he was nearby in the stands.
During the time when Cahill was at the coaching helm, it was always fascinating to witness the invisible dynamic during matches between teacher and pupil. Forgive if this sounds fanciful – it was always as if there was a private beam of light between the two, channelling some secret language from which she could draw strength.
But this Wimbledon semi-final felt more like the individual achievement of Halep herself – of course in tandem with a team, as no player in this hugely demanding sport can ever achieve anything truly alone – but perhaps indicating a new self-reliance. Cahill previously enabled her to find resources she didn’t know she had. Now maybe she can access those strengths on court by her own command.
Early on especially, she really needed them in this match. Remember how Roger Federer pocketed an entire set inside 17 minutes against Matteo Berrettini in the fourth round? With 17 minutes gone, the match was at a fifth deuce in the second game. Halep and Svitolina were going at it hammer and tongs, bludgeoning away from the baseline in ever-longer rallies.
So much was at stake. Svitolina herself was breaking new ground, making the last four of a Grand Slam for the first time after four unsuccessful quarter-finals. As with Halep, not many would have forecast that Wimbledon would be the place for the former Rome champion to reach that benchmark, especially after a 2019 plagued by injury and patchy form. The early stages of the first set spelt out how deeply both were invested in the fight.
Halep’s first serve was elusive, with double faults at exactly the wrong moments, but then she would deliver a power backhand down the line to make amends. Svitolina – a more muscular figure in 2019 than the tiny, bird-like figure of last year – had three chances to break in the opening game, and missed them all. This was a hold of serve requiring nine minutes, two 23-shot rallies and five deuces… and there was so much more of exactly the same in the second game that it looked as if we might still be here at midnight.
Svitolina at last gave in for 0-2 with an overcooked forehand, only to snatch an immediate 90-second break to love. No sooner was she back in it than she produced too little at the net, and Halep reasserted her advantage. It was a reminder that the No.7 seed came into this match having won 51 per cent of her opponents' service games in the preceding five rounds – and in case anybody hadn’t got the memo, Halep fired a fabulous forehand winner for 5-1, steaming across the court to cover the ground.
The end of the set defied expectation almost as much as the first, as an increasingly irritable Halep created five set points, only to convert none of them. Finally, she reasserted her composure to thread another chance; and this time she served out so wide that Svitolina’s only possible return merely furnished Halep with the chance for a clean winner.
Svitolina stayed with Halep to 3-3 in the second set, but she had not got so much as a point on the Romanian’s serve. Willed on by her other half Gael Monfils, the Ukrainian was tiring, and the eventual breach for 3-4 had an air of inevitability about it.
As in the first set, Halep could not close it out at once, but this time she needed just two chances rather than six. She delivered a forehand return which was too much for Svitolina, and a place in the final was hers.
Perhaps you know someone who confidently forecast two weeks ago that Halep would reach the Wimbledon final. If so, you are of unusually wide acquaintance. It’s a fool’s game, making forecasts about tennis. Halep is in her first Wimbledon final, and anything can happen from here.
