Simona Halep has firmed as French Open title favourite after charging into the quarter-finals without dropping a set.
Halep’s Australian coach Darren Cahill watched on as the Romanian third seed cleaned up Spanish claycourter Carla Suarez Navarro 6-1 6-1 in a fourth-round mismatch on Monday.
Runner-up to Maria Sharapova in 2014, Halep next plays either Ukraine’s fifth seed Elina Svitolina or Croatian qualifier Petra Martic on Wednesday for a place in the semi-finals.
Roland Garros glory for Halep would deliver Cahill his first grand slam crown as coach since the South Australian guided Andre Agassi to the 2003 Australian Open title.
It would also cap a remarkable union after the high-profile pair briefly split following a heated on-court exchange in Miami in March when Cahill challenged his combustible charge to “make a difference” during a near-four-minute pep talk.
“That’s all I can say. You’ve been in this position many times before and most times, you’re coming out second best,” Cahill said before the 25-year-old collapsed to a 3-6 7-6 (9-7) 6-2 quarter-final loss to Johanna Konta.
“Right now you have an opportunity to change things. It’s up to you. You can decide what you want to do here.
“You can go down this path and that’s fine. Or you can take a deep breath, put your towel on your head and try and get a little better in these situations.
“It’s as simple as that. It’s up to you. It comes from within. It’s no problem venting and getting all this stuff out, that’s no problem, as long as you are willing to make a difference.”
While Halep lost in Miami, her transformation since has been stunning.
Romanian has been a vastly different player since.
A semi-finalist in Stuttgart, champion in Madrid and runner-up in Rome, the world No.4 arrived in Paris as the hottest claycourter on tour and is now three wins away from finally landing her maiden grand slam title.