Third seed Halep battles into Open last eight

MELBOURNE: Romanian third seed Simona Halep battled through to the Australian Open quarter-finals Sunday with a hard-fought straight sets win over unseeded Belgian Yanina Wickmayer.

Halep downed world number 80 Wickmayer 6-4, 6-2 to set up a final eight clash with Russian tenth seed Ekaterina Makarova.

"It was a very tough match but great. I played really well," the 23-year-old said. "I just wanted to go on court and be aggressive and focused because she´s beaten me in the past."

Halep, a quarter-finalist at Melbourne Park last year, faced a stern challenge from Wickmayer, a former world number 12 who reached the US Open semi-finals in 2009.

She dug in for a win, putting the result down to experience gained last year when she also reached the final at Roland Garros and the last four at Wimbledon.

"I have experience now, I have confidence. Last year I made the quarter-finals here and I´m happy to again show my best tennis," she said.The nuggety Romanian expected to improve against Makarova, who she defeated in their only previous meeting at New Haven in 2013.

"I have confidence I can beat her again but it´s a quarter-finals and it will be a tough match," she said.

Halep attacked Wickmayer´s serve from the outset, bringing up break points on the Belgian´s two service games.

She converted the second after a 12-shot rally, chasing down everything and keeping the ball in play until Wickmayer finally pushed a backhand wide.

The Belgian double faulted to concede another break and make it 4-1 but gradually gained confidence on the baseline, cracking two forehand winners to break back in the next game.

Wickmayer saved two set points serving at 5-4, the first with a fizzing cross-court forehand and the second when Halep netted her return.

The Romanian made no mistake serving in the next game, bringing up set point with an ace and sealing it when Wickmayer mishit a backhand.

She stamped her authority on the second set with two early breaks but still failed to dominate despite the one-sided scoreline. (AFP)