Simona Halep had forgotten what winning looked and felt like. She had begun to wonder whether she would ever get the habit back.

A muscle tear she sustained in May last year, during a match against Angelique Kerber in Rome, brought to an end a 373-week tenure in the top 10 dating back to 2014: the eighth longest consecutive run in WTA history. 

The psychological and physical challenges of recovery had been equally difficult, the 30-year-old related on Monday night, after a brutal victory over the Spanish number 4 seed Paula Badosa suggested that a second Wimbledon title could be hers.

Halep, the 2019 champion and 16 seed, set the tone with a backhand pass to break Badosa in the third game, broke again to love and the Spaniard seemed a player utterly lost; unable to find the lines or establish any kind of rhythm. 

There were a few break points after she had lost seven games in a row. They all came and went.

This evisceration was something the Romanian did not foretell in the early months of this year when doubts festered, despite a relatively successful Australian Open, where she reached the fourth round.

She seemed to want to dispel all thoughts of those dark months of doubt, on Monday night. ‘Everything comes together,’ she said. 

‘I feel very good physically and mentally now. I feel I’ve power on the court. It feels good to play tennis and be on court. To have the belief if could be good again and at the top.’

Badosa was clearly devastated. ‘I don't know,’ she said, when asked to explain her defeat. 

‘I think everything went wrong. She played a good match. But I want to talk about me. I think it wasn't my day today. I tried. I tried my best. I wasn't lucky enough. Yeah, a day to forget.’