Romania’s Simona Halep rallied for a 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 victory over Svetlana Kuznetsova on Friday to set up a semifinal showdown with Angelique Kerber at the WTA Montreal tournament.
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A roar went up and flags waved when Halep finished off the error-prone Keys, 7-6 (2), 6-3, to claim the title in Canada on her second try, one year after heat stroke forced her to retire from the final in Toronto.
Nevertheless, we’re backing the Romanian to come through and similarly to the Kerber clash, her rival will have her moments and this could very well be a battle that goes the distance with Halep eventually prevailing.
“My elbow is feeling much better”, said Kerber.
Halep won a sloppy first set in 43 minutes despite hitting just one victor. We’ve played a lot of good matches in the past.
The fifth-seeded Halep then let the disappointment of wasted break chances from the last game haunt her, giving up the break to level the set at 4-all.
Madison Keys, of the United States, serves to Kristina Kucova, of Slovakia, during a semifinal at the Rogers Cup tennis tournament Saturday, July 30, 2016, in Montreal.
Sunday’s win gave the 24-year-old her third title of the year.
“She was playing more consistently than me the whole match”, said Kerber. “But in the second set I didn’t lose serve, so that made the second set easier to win”.
“She hits very strong”, Halep said. “I don’t know, I wanted to make something big with the serve”.
Simona Halep wins her first Canadian Masters final over Madison Keys in her second consecutive championship round appearance.
Halep improved her career record against Keys to 3-1, having beaten the American over three sets in their most recent meeting at Wimbledon earlier this month, and will rise to third when the world rankings are issued on Monday. In last year’s title match she retired in the third set because of illness to hand the title to unseeded Swiss Belinda Bencic. It feels nice that 40 years later I won here in Montreal.
The Romanians manage to win the opening game of the second set, as they switch roles with the Russians, winning two of the first three games to lead 2-1. “I think it’s the best against her”.
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Kerber will face Russia’s Daria Kasatkina, a 7-5, 6-3 2 victor over seventh-seeded Roberta Vinci of Italy 7-5, 6-3.
