Halep thrashes Kontaveit to reach Melbourne semis

Halep had not lost a set in her previous two meetings with Kontaveit, who managed just one breakpoint on the former world number one's serve.

The Romanian, runner-up at Melbourne Park in 2018, will meet either Spaniard Garbine Muguruza or Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia for a place in Saturday's final. (Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly; editing by Peter Rutherford)