The 23-year-old Townsend had never before beaten Halep in their three previous meetings and it seemed that the story would be the same in their Thursday’s match-up, as the Romanian former world No.1 cruised through the first set. Qualifier Townsend, however, was determined to go for the win, increased her net approaches in the second and third sets and as Halep’s aggression subsided, the underdog got in control.
The decider was highly dramatic, as Halep saved two match points from 40-15 down in the tenth game to break and level at 5-5. The two-time Grand Slam champion then saved a break point to hold serve in the eleventh game and afterwards earned a match point of her own.