"Brave" Yanina Wickmayer stopped in quarters
Wickmayer had taken a strong start to the new season, after a poor 2014 which left her crashing to 80th place on the WTA world rankings. After beating a couple of high-ranked players in the previous rounds in Melbourne, she had good hopes of creating another upset, also because she won the previous two encounters with Simona Halep.
A runner-up at the French Open and a semi-finalist at Wimbledon last year, Halep (WTA-3) was not to be caught off-guard. She rushed to a 4-1 lead in the opening set and claimed the set on her 3rd set point, 6-4. Wickmayer had difficulties with her serve and was confronted with a service break in the second set as well, before she threw in the towel: 6-2.
"A strong performance by Halep, but we also saw some brave play by Wickmayer. Could her Australian Open effort mark the start of a great 2015?" Belgian journalists concluded.