Forgotten former world No.1 Simona Halep has given a blunt assessment of her serve after advancing to the final four of the WTA tournament in Melbourne on Friday.
The Romanian, who is now ranked 20, battled to a 6-2 5-7 6-4 win over Swiss veteran Viktorija Golubic and said she felt she was her own worst enemy in a marathon match on Rod Laver Arena.
"Nothing was working today," Halep said in her on-court interview.
"My serve was sh*t, it really was, and I fought with myself a lot and found it difficult to control my emotions but she put me i this situation and put pressure on me.
"But if you want to win, you don't give up."
The statistics backed up Halep's evaluation, with the two-time grand slam winner only finding the mark with 58 per cent of her first serves while delivering 11 double faults.
She also made 52 unforced errors - 10 more than Golubic, who is ranked world No.43.
Halep looked like she was headed for a comfortable win after cruising through the first set and taking a 4-2 lead in the second.
But she appeared to be hampered by a back injury as her serve started to misfire, allowing Golubic back into the match.
Halep served for the match at 5-4 but was unable to close it out.
Both players struggled to hold serve in the third, trading breaks.
Despite the service wobbles, it was a high-quality exchange in the deciding set, with Halep showing her class in the big moments.
Halep, who was an Australian Open finalist in 2018 and quarter-finalist last year, will face China's Qinwen Zheng for a spot in the final.
