Serena Williams calls victory over Halep the best match she played

Serena Williams was spectacular in her victory over Simona Halep and afterwards, she said it was the best match she played so far at the event.

Despite the straight-sets win over Halep, it was not a straightforward match for Serena whom Halep broke several times in the match. Luckily for Serena, she was sensational on the return which coupled with her great movement over the court was more than enough to force several key errors from Halep. After the match Serena spoke about it:

"I feel like I needed to have a good performance today, especially after my last match against her. So it was really important to try to play well today. I knew I couldn't play worse [than last time]. So that was a good thing."

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When asked about the movement which her coach Patrick Mouratoglou said was best in years she lauded it as one of her strengths:

"Movement has always been one of my strengths, and so it's actually more natural for me to move than for me not. So it was just kind of like, Oh, that's how I used to move. I'm happy that I'm doing that again and that I put it back into my game. I think I was more focused on other things and not focused on something that is actually a strength of mine, has always been a strength of mine, and I had to refocus on that."

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Ultimately Serena recapped the match by saying it was the best she played at the Australian Open yet:

“I definitely think this is the best match I’ve played this tournament for sure, Obviously I had to, going up against the No.2 in the world. I knew I had to do better and that’s what I did."

Check out the full post-match press conference below: