The British singles players are going home early, beaten and only mildly encouraged, at the end of four days of struggle at the Australian Open, and Harriet Dart waved goodbye with a spirited flourish in losing to the former world No 1, Simona Halep.
Nevertheless, this is the second year on the spin there will be no British player in either singles draw in the third round. In the decade before 2019, at least one British player – usually Andy Murray – kept the flag flying towards the first weekend. Dart follows Heather Watson, who earlier lost to the 16th seed, Elise Mertens, whom she had beaten in the quarter-finals in Hobart only a week ago.
Halep paid tribute to Dart after winning 6-2, 6-4 on Thursday evening. “It was a little bit dangerous,” Halep said of a tight finish in which Dart fought back from 1-4 down to make her sweat. “I lost focus and she started to play very well at the end. It was more difficult for me to hold it. It’s tough to play against someone you have not played before. She doesn’t have that much power, but she is very smart on court, and I had to step in more. I think I played too far back today.”
Dart said before stepping on to Rod Laver Arena – the scene of her scoreless embarrassment against Maria Sharapova a year ago – that her performance would indicate where her game was heading. After an hour and 17 minutes she knew what she probably suspected 20 minutes in, when she had yet to hold serve: there is more room for improvement and hope than despondency.
For stretches in the first set and the start of the second, the Londoner hit without rhythm, but nor was she allowed to by an opponent who has travelled a journey that would appeal to her own sense of hard-won spoils. Halep moved steadily, then quickly through the rankings from 723 in 2007 to 80 three years later, and on to No 1 in 2017. Her unquestionable highpoint so far – after breaking through to win the French Open in 2018 – arrived last summer when she played as near to perfect as it is possible in this maddening game, hitting Serena Williams off Centre Court in two lightning quick sets in the Wimbledon final.
In her eight years on the Tour, 24-year-old Dart – who regards herself as a late bloomer – has risen from 811 to 121 last year, and campaigned here at 173, winning each of her three qualifying matches in two sets. The form was there, as she showed in beating Misaki Doi in a late-night dogfight in round one, and she now will edge back towards her career high ranking.
When Halep ended a longish game with a drop shot to break at the start of the second, the finish line looked as if it was about to rush at the British player. Her few successes had been close to the net, and the Romanian pinned her deep with booming forehands to either wing.
Then, in fine British tradition, Dart went down in a fighting fireball of resistance, holding, for only the second time, to love for 1-4, again to stay in town at 2-5 and finally breaking her tormentor for 4-5.
Against all the previous indicators, the ball began to go where Dart intended and she fashioned another break point as Halep wobbled in sight of the prize. Dart saved three match points but overcooked her final forehand. Her personal victory was the manner of her leaving – and maybe that she had won two more games and lasted 21 minutes longer than Williams did at Wimbledon.
Earlier, Watson’s exit was more painful to watch. Nursing a minor abdominal strain, she commanded the wind and the important exchanges to win 6-7(5) 6-4 7-5 in Hobart and left Tasmania with a cheque for $A11,600. Here she had two decent wins and boosted her earnings by $A180,000.
Disappointed after a good start to the week, she said later: “My level wasn’t there today, my movement. I was a millimetre or a second too slow to everything. I was letting her dictate. As the match went on, she played better and was more aggressive. I am just not happy with my performance at all.”