Simona Halep from Romania managed to shrug off death threats, coming from a stalker, to take her place in the semi-finals at the WTA tournament in Stuttgart by beating Italy’s Sara Errani on Friday. The 23-year-old Halep, ranked 3 in the world, had received a quite shkoing death threat via Twitter on Thursday from a Danish fan.
Actions have been taken to secure the pleasant memory of the Stuttgart tournament – the organizers confirmed they have stepped up security around her.
“I can’t comment on it. I am here to play tennis. Other people will take care of it,” said Halep after her 6-4, 6-4 win over Errani in a tight quarter-final on the indoor clay court.
It is widely believe that the obsessed fan have bombarded Halep with a series of messages via social media.
The Romanian showed no signs of the off-court distraction to secure a victory which is set to see her take Maria Sharapova’s place as 2nd in the world rankings on Monday.
She finally converted her 4th match point against Errani in a match which featured 16 breaks in the 20 games.
“It was a tough game, she defended very well and it was hard to finish points off against her,” said Halep.
“I’m looking forward to the semi-finals now.”
The 2014 French Open finalist, Halep, now meets former world number 1 and boxing fan Wozniacki after the Dane floored Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro 6-0, 6-3 in just over an hour.
“I surprised myself by having fun out there today, I don’t normally like clay, but it was nice to slide and run,” said fourth-seed Wozniacki, who says she sometimes spars in training.
“I like to box from time to time, it’s a great cardio work-out,” added the 24-year-old.
Halep is the highest seeded player still in Stuttgart after reigning champion Sharapova, who had won all of her 3 previous tournament appearances in Stuttgart, suffered a defeat from Germany’s Angelique Kerber on Thursday during the 2nd round. What is more, Kerber reached the semi-finals with a straight sets win over 6th-seed Ekaterina Makarova from Russia.
The 27-year-old needed just an hour for a 6-3, 6-2 win to celebrate her 9th win in succession after winning the Charleston tournament a fortnight ago.
“I’m speechless over how amazing the atmosphere is here on the centre court,” beamed Kerber.
“I have rediscovered my joy and passion for tennis and I am enjoying every minute on court,” she said, having broken a poor run of results with her win in South Carolina.
In the semi-finals, the in-form German will play the American Madison Brengle, who recovered from losing the first set to beat Caroline Garcia of France 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Sara Errani vs Simona Halep, 24/04/2015, 12:10 GMT, Match Center
Simona Halep wins in Stuttgart after death threads
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