BIRMINGHAM
\nFormer Wimbledon champion Simona Halep booked her place in the semi-finals of the WTA Birmingham grass-court event with a straight sets win over Britain\u2019s Katie Boulter on Friday.
\nBoulter had been in career-best form at the tournament, defeating Alison Riske in the first round of the Wimbledon warm-up before knocking out former top-10 player Caroline Garcia.
\nBut second seed Halep ultimately proved too strong in a 6-4, 6-1 victory.
\nThe 30-year-old Romanian, however, did not have things all her own way in a tightly-contested first set.
\nBoulter, who only returned from nearly three months out with a leg injury at Nottingham last week, kept pace with Halep for the opening eight games.
\nThe 25-year-old, to her credit, saved three break points at 4-4 only to double fault on the fourth.
\nThat proved to be the cue for Halep to pull away in what is her first grass-court event since a superb straight sets win over Serena Williams in the 2019 Wimbledon final.
\n\u201cShe\u2019s clearly one of the best tennis players out there,\u201d said Boulter of Halep.
\n\u201cSo, for me to be able to stand out there and feel like I can compete and win the match, I really did feel if I brought a bit more game today, then it would have been closer and it would have been a tough match for both of us.\u201d
\nHalep will now play Brazil\u2019s Hadda Maia, winner of last week\u2019s Nottingham Open, in the semi-finals.
\nThe world number 32 extended her winning streak on grass to eight matches with a 6-3 6-2 victory over Italian third seed Camila Giorgi.
\nSorana Cirstea made it a day of double celebration for Romania by also reaching the semi-finals after coming from a set down to defeat Donna Vekic 5-7, 6-3, 6-4.
\nCirstea will face Zhang Shuai in the last four following the Chinese eighth seed\u2019s 7-5, 6-4 win over Ukraine\u2019s dayana Yastemska.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BIRMINGHAM Former Wimbledon champion Simona Halep booked her place in the semi-finals of the WTA Birmingham grass-court event with a straight sets win over Britain\u2019s Katie Boulter on Friday. Boulter had been in career-best form at the tournament, defeating Alison Riske in the first round of the Wimbledon warm-up before knocking out former top-10 player […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":266825,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[8665,8666,2417],"class_list":{"0":"post-266786","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-birmingham","9":"tag-simona-halep","10":"tag-storm"},"yoast_head":"\n