Tennis: Halep defeats Goerges to secure Qatar Open semi-final clash with Svitolina

After an easy second round match against Lesia Tsurenko on Wednesday, Qatar Open's top seed Simona Halep was pushed to the limit on Thursday in the quarter-final clash with Germany's Julia Goerges in Doha. Halep, who last weekend led Romania to an historic Fed Cup victory over the Czech Republic, needed more than two hours to beat her opponent 7-6 (7-1), 7-6 (8-6) and secure a semi-final with Elina Svitolina. Halep wasted a 4-0 lead in the first set only to come easily on top in the tie-break, which she comfortably won 7-1. In the second set, instead, she went one break down, with Goerges serving to get to a decider at 5-4. The world number three claimed the game to love and then wrapped up the match in another tie-break, this time coming back from a 6-4 deficit to close it out 8-6.