Australian Open: Halep halts Wickmayer

Third seed Simona Halep broke her hoodoo against Belgian Yanina Wickmayer with a 6-4, 6-2 win to sail into the quarter-finals of the Australian Open on Sunday.

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Having lost three previous matches to 80th-ranked Wickmayer, a former US Open semi-finalist, the pint-sized Romanian had the edge in a slow-burning contest under the lights of Rod Laver Arena.

Both struggled on serve in the second set, but Halep was the first to steady and closed out the match strongly in 79 minutes to make her second last-eight appearance at Melbourne Park.

Halep faces Russia's Ekaterina Makarova for a place in the semi-finals.