Simona Halep continued her encouraging start to the season on Thursday by reaching her third semi-final at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships following an impressive win over Tunisia's Ons Jabeur.
Halep, a former world No 1, has endured numerous injury setbacks over the past 12 months and was unable to defend her Dubai title last year, but the Romanian appears on a mission to make up for lost time. Starting the season with a title in Melbourne, Halep is well on course to make it two trophies from three tournaments in 2022 after a fine 6-4, 6-3 victory against the last remaining seeded player in the draw.
"I'm really pleased with the match," Halep, 30, said. "I played good tennis and was super strong in the legs. I knew that she changes the rhythm a lot; it was never easy to actually find the rhythm during the match, but I did well and I'm really happy that I could win against a tough opponent."
The Romanian's conversion rate from this stage in Dubai is flawless: both times Halep previously reached the semi-finals, she went on to win the tournament.
In fact, Halep has been flawless in Dubai going back two years. Having missed her title defence, the two-time Grand Slam champion is now on a seven-match winning run at the event.
That streak includes two wins over Jabeur. The first time these players met, in the second round two years ago, Halep edged an enthralling encounter after a marathon tiebreak in the third set.
The rematch looked like it could shape up to be another classic as the contrasting styles of Halep and Jabeur ensured another entertaining encounter; Halep with her relentless running and baseline consistency, up against Jabeur's power, variety, and famous dropshot. As two of the best-supported players in Dubai, Centre Court provided a great atmosphere, too.
It was Halep who struck first with the early lead at 2-0 and, after Jabeur hit straight back to level at 2-2, the two-time champion re-established her advantage at 4-2. The Tunisian got the set back on serve when Halep served for the opener at 5-3 but Halep got over the line in the next game with her third break of the set.
Jabeur assumed early control of the second set but after moving 2-0 ahead, Halep responded by winning four straight games. That lead proved enough as the Romanian closed out the match on serve after 80 minutes.
The world No 23 takes on Jelena Ostapenko in Friday's semi-finals with the previous matches split evenly at one apiece. Their first meeting famously went the way of an unseeded 20-year-old Ostapenko in the 2017 French Open final after Halep led by a set and 3-0.
Ostapenko booked her semi-final place after an epic win over Petra Kvitova, their 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 duel lasting more than two and a half hours.
"It's going to be a big challenge tomorrow because it will be probably similar to today. Ostapenko is hitting very strong and doesn't allow much rhythm," Halep said. "But I've played against her a few times, so I will think about those matches and think what I will have to do."
That thought process has been entirely Halep's responsibility this week. The Romanian is flying solo in Dubai having split with her coaches before the tournament and she has adjusted quickly to her new setup.
"I'm proud with how I handled this week, but is not over yet so I don't want to finish it yet," she said. "The coach is always important in the team but, as I said before, I enjoy the freedom. I feel like I can play few more tournaments like this. We will see. I have nothing planned."
For Jabeur, it was a promising week having only returned from the back injury that forced her to miss the Australian Open, and the Tunisian was gracious in defeat.
"Physically, I'm trying to come back. It's not easy to not be 100 per cent with Simona playing at this level," Jabeur, 27, said. "She was much better than me. I just want to keep positive. I don't like to lose like this, but first tournament after injury, so I really am glad that I at least won two matches here."