Halep Beats Boulter for 10th Straight Grass Win in Birmingham

Simona Halep hasn’t stepped into her grass-court shoes much in recent years.

Lack of lawn activity hasn’t stopped Halep from high-stepping into the Birmingham semifinals.

Halep charged through eight of the last nine games conquering Katie Boulter 6-4, 6-1 to roll into the Birmingham semifinals.

It is Halep’s 10th consecutive grass-court victory and propels her into her fourth semifinal of the season.

The woman who crushed Serena Williams in the 2019 Wimbledon final will face either third-seeded Camila Giorgi or red-hot Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia, who won her maiden WTA title in Nottingham last weekend, for a spot in the final.

Former world No. 1 Halep, who rises to No. 19 in the live rankings, is bidding for her first final since the Melbourne 250 back in January.

Earlier, Sorana Cirstea saved five of 10 break points rallying past Donna Vekic 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 in a two-and-a-half-hour triumph. 

The sixth-seeded Romanian improved to 18-13 on the season reaching her third semifinal of 2022 after Lyon and Istanbul. Romania boasts two of the four Birmingham semifinals.

Next up for the 36th-ranked Cirstea is Zhang Shuai. The eighth-seeded Zhang withstood 11 aces from Dayana Yastremska in a 7-5, 6-4 victory that spanned 76 minutes.