Halep showcases her grit with stunning comeback over Svitolina

Simona Halep wasn't just on the ropes; she was down on the mat, nine-and-a-half seconds into a 10-count. She was dead in the water.

In the French Open quarterfinals Wednesday, the ascendant Elina Svitolina went up a set and two breaks, leading 5-1 in the second. She'd been bullying Halep all match, pushing her deep behind the baseline, changing the direction of the ball with clean striking, lasering cross-court forehands into the corners, and covering the court masterfully. It probably goes without saying, given the score at the time, but Svitolina was in complete command.

Then, an odd thing happened. Halep found something, somewhere. She'd been tightly coiled, but she relaxed, let go, started swinging freely. Her feet started kicking up a bit more dirt. Svitolina may have tightened up, but she didn't fall apart. She just left the door open a crack, and Halep wriggled through.

It's certainly not the first time a player has loosened up when defeat is close enough to make them feel they have nothing to lose. But that's never really been Halep's M.O. When things go bad for her, she tends to go away. Her body language turns sour, her energy level tanks, and then it's over. This time, she was calm. Her transformation felt less a product of go-for-broke resignation than redoubled courage. In a blink, things turned. She took control of points, opening up the court with sharp angles. She defended maniacally, and Svitolina suddenly couldn't hit around her.

Svitolina served for the match at 5-2, and got broken. She served for it again at 5-4, and got broken. The rope kept sliding and sliding out of her hands, until she found herself facing triple set point while serving at 5-6, and managed to grab hold of it again, if only briefly. Coaxing a slew of Halep misses, she erased those three set points, and then saved a fourth, before finally holding to take the set to a tiebreaker, where she earned her first and only match point.

That point was a microcosm of Halep's comeback. There was nothing but belief in the way she played it. Big serve up the T, deep backhand down the line, inside-out forehand that clipped the opposite sideline, and another down-the-line backhand into the open court for a winner. She took Svitolina side to side to side, and then buried her.

She won the next two points to take the set, and made the decider look like a formality, winning it 6-0. From the brink of a blowout loss, she won 12 of the last 13 games to reach her first major semifinal in nearly two years.

With Serena Williams, Victoria Azarenka, and Maria Sharapova out of action, and world No. 1 Angelique Kerber going down in the first round, Halep has a real opening to win her first Slam at Roland Garros, where she made her lone major finals appearance back in 2014. She was billed as the presumptive favorite in a wide-open draw. Expectation has been more curse than blessing for the 25-year-old throughout her oft-frustrating run on the pro circuit, but she showed her mettle Wednesday, just when it seemed she was about to fall short once again.

That breakthrough title is still two wins away, and she'll have to go through world No. 2 Karolina Pliskova in the semis. But for now, for all it signifies about her ability and mental fortitude, this looks like the kind of win that can alter the trajectory of her career.

What a performance.