LONDON, July 11 (Tie Break Tense Release)
Simona Halep reached the last 16 of Wimbledon to move one match win away from the World No.1 ranking, and afterwards credited her Tie Break Tens title in Madrid for helping her get through.
Halep defeated Victoria Azarenka 7-6(3), 6-2 in the Wimbledon fourth round, and will now face Britain’s Johanna Konta in the quarterfinals today.
The Romanian came from behind to force a tie-break in the opening set, and then her mind went back to her victory at Tie Break Tens Madrid.
Halep told a media conference: “The tie-break actually I played really well. I was remembering the Tie Break Tens from Madrid, so I said I have to win it! I was more relaxed and I just stepped in and hit stronger.”
At Tie Break Tens in May, Halep defeated Konta 10-2 in the opening round, before overcoming Svetlana Kuznetsova 10-6 in the final to take the $250,000 winner-take-all prize money.
Tie Break Tens is a new quick fire, short-format version of tennis in which only first-to-ten point tie-breaks are played. An entire event is played in a single evening.
So far, there have been events in London, Vienna and Madrid. Tie Break Tens will return with future events announced in due course