Halep gets partnership with Van Cleemput off to winning start in Doha

DOHA—Simona Halep's Thursday night on the court could have been a lot longer. Instead, in just over two hours, she dispatched Julia Goerges, 7-6 (1), 7-6 (6), by winning the most crucial points of their quarterfinal match.

A tiebreaker didn't appear necessary in the first set, which Halep led 4-0. The same can be said for the second set, in which Goerges lost a break-of-serve lead and let three set points slip away.

"I didn't think about a third set. I just wanted to fight till the end of the second set," said Halep, who won this tournament in 2014. "So I didn't give up, and I didn't lose my confidence, even if I was set points down."

Halep is still riding a high from putting Romania into its first-ever Fed Cup semifinal over the weekend. But first she has a semifinal with Elina Svitolina to think about. The Ukrainian, who defeated qualifier Karolina Muchova 6-4, 6-2, leads their career head to head 4-2.

"We always have some tough matches in the past, so we are both playing maybe similar game, and lots of long rallies," Svitolina said. "I'm going to expect that."

"We played two finals in Rome, and I lost them," Halep said about the match-up. "I was very upset after those matches, because I gave up and I didn't play my best tennis.

"Now I have the chance to change that. I believe that I have a good level of tennis in this moment, and I have to believe that I can win."

Part of that belief is attributed to Halep's new coach, Thierry Van Cleemput. After four successful years with coach Darren Cahill, the partnership is off to a good start in Doha.

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