Serena won in Toronto in her last two appearances in 2011 and 2013. Neither player will be able to hit the other off the court, so it will be pivotal for both to reduce their error counts and go for their shots when the opportunity presents itself.
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It’s hard not to be staggered when taking a glance at the player biography of Serena Williams. I just felt very exhausted.
“I just want to believe that I have a chance”, Halep had said. She lost to her sister Venus in the semifinals last year in Montreal. “I’ll try to be politically correct”.
“Obviously Halep is No3 in the world and she’s an fantastic player”, Bencic said.
She needed 2:28 to complete the biggest win of her career.
“I did everything I could to finish in two sets because in the third one I don’t know what would happen”.
“I thought she did really well at everything tonight”, Williams said. She wasn’t done. Halep put a forehand into the net for a third break point, spinning a second serve into net to drop serve.
The 33-year-old American advances to the quarter-finals where she will face Roberta Vinci who snapped the win streak of rising star Daria Gavrilova with a 6-4, 6-3 win. Williams broke back to reduce the deficit to 4-1, but Bencic threw up a swift riposte to move within one game of the showpiece.
The match would turn its tide once again with another break of serve going the Romanian’s way, and this time she’d consolidate with a love hold to follow suit. This week, I had some good wins against solid players and played well. Bencic won her first WTA title just weeks ago at Eastbourne, but she’s on the express elevator in the rankings.
But she looked sluggish and troubled throughout much of the semi-final, failing to run down balls in the open court and often turning in frustration towards the stands to speak with her coach Patrick Mouratoglou.
It’s safe to assume she wasn’t referring to the stress of playing a semi in Toronto. Fireworks flew into the sky with the 18 year old in shock that she just did what not many have accomplished. “So yeah, it just – I missed a lot”.
Williams often talked to herself between points and emphatically gestured in the direction of her coach.
Top-seeded Martina Hingis of Switzerland and Sania Mirza of India were scheduled to play fourth-seeded Caroline Garcia of France and Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia in the late doubles semifinal.
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Henin, formally inducted into the Rogers Cup Hall of Fame on the weekend, had a decade-plus rivalry with Williams, in another era.
