Simona Halep said she felt sick and dizzy during her gruelling Australian Open clash with Alize Cornet in sweltering heat on Monday and admitted she was on the verge of giving up.
The Romanian two-time Grand Slam winner was visibly struggling as the temperatures hit 33 Celsius (91 Fahrenheit) on Rod Laver Arena. She kept going but lost the gruelling fourth-round clash 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in 2hr 33min, red in the face and frequently bending over to try to catch her breath.
“I have no injury, this is good. Only the heat got me actually early in the first set. I felt sick, felt a little bit dizzy,” said the former World No.1.
No confidence
“It’s tough to play in the heat, and I was not ready today. She was a little bit stronger, and that’s why she could win the match. I was close to just giving up, because I was exhausted, how I looked, actually. But I felt like she was starting to miss, and I just stayed there. I fought for every ball. But with not much confidence.”
Meanwhile, Iga Swiatek battled into her third Grand Slam quarter-final and first at the Australian Open as she ground past resurgent Romanian Sorana Cirstea on Monday.
The seventh seeded former French Open champion encountered stiff resistance from the World No.38 before coming through 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 on Margaret Court Arena.
Collins advances
Earlier, fired-up American Danielle Collins stayed on track for match her 2019 Melbourne Park heroics as she battled through an epic against Elise Mertens to make the Australian Open quarter-finals on Monday.
The 27th seed outlasted 19th seeded Mertens 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in a 2hr 51min marathon in sweltering heat on Rod Laver Arena. It earned her the right to play French veteran Cornet for a place in the Last-4.
“It was really tough for me, I played a long match as well the other day so I had to make a lot of technical adjustments to be able to get myself moving around,” said Collins. “That was a big challenge.”
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