Simona Halep survived a late fightback from Harriet Dart to progress to the third round of Australian Open 2020.
The fourth seed, a finalist at Melbourne Park two years ago, posted a 6-2 6-4 win over the British qualifier at Rod Laver Arena on Thursday evening.
For Dart, this return to the tournament’s premier court was a happier occasion; 12 months ago she was beaten 6-0 6-0 by Maria Sharapova in the first round.
Her most recent outing at a Grand Slam tournament’s biggest arena came in the third round at Wimbledon six months later, where world No.1 Ash Barty thumped her 6-1 6-1 in just 53 minutes.
Yet while this match, also against a major champion on a big court, threatened to follow a similar pattern when she fell behind 6-2 5-1, Dart impressively rallied.
She saved a match point in the eighth game and earned a break point in the 10th game, which if converted would have seen her level scores at 5-5.
Halep, increasingly frustrated and demonstrative, ultimately needed four match points to end Dart’s resistance.
“It was a little bit dangerous, I lost the focus a little bit, but she started to play very well,” the Romanian assessed.
“It was more difficult for me to hold it. But I’m happy I went through it.
“I like to play under pressure; it’s more fun and more excitement. But I would prefer to finish it when I have the chance.”
Earlier, the reigning Wimbledon champion looked set for a routine victory, coasting through the first set thanks to the fact she constructed points better, was more relentless and consistent, and had a fraction more pop on her shots than the world No.173.
As early as the sixth game, Dart had sprayed more than four times the number of errors committed by Halep.
Halep sent a message down the court at the start of the second set by breaking the Brit in the very first game. And that score of 1-0 become 4-0 as Dart struggled to live with the world No.4.
Yet her late rally energised the crowd, made the scoreline more respectable and generated some anger from Halep towards her entourage – which in turn generated some more funds for bushfire relief efforts in Australia.
After eventually clamping down and cementing victory in one hour and 17 minutes, Halep now turns her attention to a third-round stoush with in-form No.26 seed Danielle Collins or Kazakh Yulia Putintseva.
Victory would vault her into the second week at Melbourne Park for the third year running, and keep her on course for a third career Grand Slam singles title.
“I’m still far to think about this title, but I have good memories; since 2018 I played many good matches here,” Halep said.
“Hopefully I can do the third one here.”