Serena Williams beat world number one Simona Halep in their women's singles Round of 16 match to enter the quarter-finals of the 2019 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on Monday.
It was supposed to be classic, befitting for a final at any Grand Slam tournament, but the American legend made it a one-sided match despite the Romanian producing a late back to extend the game.
The three sets win for the American (6-1, 4-6, 6-4), however, showed the intensity of the match even though the American raced away to win the first set 62, in just 21 minutes. The match lasted one hour 47 minutes as Serena blasted 42 winners as against Halep's 24.
She will no face seventh seed Karolina Pliskova of Czech Republic for a place in the last four. Earlier, Pliskova defeated Garbine Muguruza in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1.
The highly anticipated match started with world number one breaking the 23-time Grand Slam winner in the very first game. But the American, who has won the title at Melbourne Park seven times, responded by breaking her opponent's next three service games to wrest the opening set 6-1 in just 21 minutes.
The second set witnessed the Romanian producing a gutsy fightback to force the decider with 6-4 win. Halep lost the third serve, but hit back in the very next game to make it even at 2-2 after four games. At 5-4, the 27-year-old from Constanta broke Serena in the first opportunity. The set lasted 37 minutes.
In the third set, both the players continued to trade blows including two massive games, those of first and sixth. That 15-point sixth game seemed to have taken a toll on the Romanian as Serena broke the seventh game to take a 4-3 lead on serve.
And it proved the decisive break as the American won the match.
