Simona Halep beats Britain’s Katie Boulter in straight sets in Birmingham Classic quarter-finals

Simona Halep is into the semi-finals of the Birmingham Classic after getting past Britain’s Katie Boulter in straight sets.

The No. 2 seed had already knocked out Harriet Dart in the previous round, and Boulter started well in a bid to avoid suffering the same result as her compatriot.

After holding serve in the opening game, Boulter created two break opportunities in the next but failed to take either, with the two-time Grand Slam champion surviving the early challenge put in front of her.

Both players delivered solid service games until Halep made a breakthrough to go 5-4 ahead. Despite failing to execute three previous break points, she succeeded at the fourth attempt, before serving out the first set.

As strong as the players’ serves had been in the opening set, what followed was quite the opposite.

After falling behind in the match, Boulter had the worst possible start to the second set as she was broken immediately

However, as shown in her confidence-boosting wins over Alison Riske and Caroline Garcia earlier in the competition, the 25-year-old never gives up easily. She broke Halep straight back.

Far from flustered, Halep recovered to break to love, before holding her own serve. This proved to be a key period of play, as the Romanian took full control.

Boulter failed to hold serve again during the match, and Halep raced to a 6-4 6-1 victory.

In the semi-finals, Halep will face either Camila Giorgi or Beatriz Haddad Maia.

Sixth seed Sorana Cirstea is also through to the last four after coming from a set down to beat Donna Vekic 7-5 3-6 4-6.

She will play Zhang Shuai for a place in the final, after the Chinese player was a straight sets winner against Dayana Yastremska.

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