ITF

Women's doubles champions Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic "It was such a tough grind. I'm very proud to be here with the trophy" C A R O L I N E W O Z N I A C K I ITFWorld // SPRING 2018 31 Halep lost no admirers for her fight. Soldiering on after wrenching her ankle in the first round, she survived two marathon scraps and in the final was two service holds from the title at 4-3 but, physically spent, lost 10 of the last 14 points. "It's fine," said the stoic Romanian. "I cried but now I'm smiling." Halep was hospitalised for dehydration after the final, played in sauna conditions. Women's tennis may have hit peak physicality at AO2018. Halep had lived her Aussie coach Darren Cahill's directive to be more courageous, twice surviving from match points down. She braved three against American Lauren Davis in a 4-6 6-4 15-13 epic that equalled the tournament record for most games (48) in a women's match. In the semifinals against Kerber, in arguably the best women's match of the fortnight, Halep struck 50 winners and saved two match points to clinch it 9-7 in the third. The absence of defending champion and new mum Serena Williams always promised a wide- open women's event. The draw was stacked with nine major title-winners but by the fourth round only Kerber remained, after her 6-1 6-3 dismantling of Maria Sharapova in a clash of former champions. Happy back as the hunter rather than hunted, No. 21 seed Kerber emerged the unlikely favourite, having miraculously hit 'delete' on her horror 2017. Undefeated in 2018, the 30-year-old German wasn't tested until a wildly entertaining 4-6 7-5 6-2 fourth- round win over touch artist Su-Wei Hsieh. She then demolished Madison Keys for the loss of three games. Even after losing to Halep from two match points at 6-5 in the decider, Kerber had little cause for regret. "My heart was on court – this is the most important thing," said the former No. 1, signalling she's back looking for big titles. Reunited with 'Norman' – aka the Australian Open trophy named in honour of Sir Norman Brookes – Federer reflected on the previous year, when he wondered if he had another major title in him. Now the Swiss superstar has three of the last five. "I can't believe it myself." Federer's 6-2 6-7(5) 6-3 3-6 6-1 final victory over a gallant Marin Cilic was a high-calibre repeat of their Wimbledon final; in between they were holiday hitting partners in the Maldives. The Swiss blitzed the first set but Cilic, quarterfinal conqueror of Rafael Nadal when the world No.1 retired in the fifth set, threatened to do the same against Federer, levelling with a tiebreak second set despite not breaking serve and rattling off five of six games to force a deciding set. All the momentum was with the tall Croat, but suddenly, two missed breakpoints in the opening game of the fifth set swung the match again. "I went for my shots," said the composed 29-year-old. "Didn't make them." But Cilic could take pride in his performance, and a new No. 3 ranking. ➝ It was an emotional occasion for Caroline Wozniacki

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