UPDATE Tennis: Simona Halep qualifies for Wimbledon semis

Romanian tennis player Simona Halep qualified on Tuesday for the semi-finals of the Wimbledon tournament, the third Grand Slam of the Year, by defeating Chinese Shuai Zhang, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1. Halep (27 years old), the world number seven, managed to qualify for the second time for a semifinal at the All England Club (the first time in 2014), by prevailing in an hour and 26 minutes over Chinese Zhang (aged 30, WTA's 450th). The Romanian player, Roland Garros champion in 2018, is thus achieving the best result at the Grand Slam tournaments this year, after the round of 16 at the Australian Open and the quarter-finals at Roland Garros. Halep evened the situation in the direct matches with Zhang, 2-2, after the Asian defeated her in 2016 in the first round at the Australian Open 6-4, 6-3, and in the same year in Beijing, 6-0, 6 -3, in round of 16. Simona's only previous victory was recorded in 2012, in the first round at Indian Wells, 6-1, 6-1. Statistically, in the Wimbledon match, each player succeeded an ace, Halep had a double fault, and Zhang two. The Romanian served better, having 72pct points on the first serve (compared to 67pct Chinese) and 44pct on the second (41pct). Halep, who crashed out in the third round of Wimbledon last year, secured a check of 588,000 pounds and 780 WTA points, and will be facing off in the penultimate act the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina (24 years old, WTA's 8th) or with Karolina Muchova (Czech Republic, 22 years old, WTA's 68th ). AGERPRES (RO - editor: Mihai Tenea; editor: Mircea Lazaroniu; EN - author: Bogdan Gabaroi; editor: Simona Iacob)