Halep meets El Fenomeno on way to Madrid semifinals

MADRID—Simona Halep is having a pretty good week, to say the very least. The world No. 2 got to meet Ronaldo "The Phenomenon" Nazario. The retired Brazilian footballer played for a number of Spanish teams during his storied career including Real Madrid.

An inspired Halep has breezed into the quarterfinals in Madrid, complete with a 6-0, 6-0 rout of Viktoria Kuzmova on Wednesday.

"Well, I felt peaceful on court. And sometimes during the matches you feel insecure of your game but today was not the case," the Romanian said. "Today, I felt every single shot and I knew that I can win every point against her. So I think the confidence was really very high."

She then backed up her blistering 44-minute win with a 7-5, 7-5 victory over Ashleigh Barty. Halep hasn't dropped a set yet this week, and has won the Madrid title two times.

"To play semifinals here, it's a very good result for me coming after that disappointment in Fed Cup," Halep said. "I like the courts, I like the altitude. So, many friends are coming, family's here, so it's much easier for me to feel relaxed and to feel happy on court. So when I'm happy on court I can play my best tennis."

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