Halep won the toss and elected to receive.
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But the second-seeded German responded with a six-game winning streak of her own to claim the second set and open the third with a service break. She also reached the semis at Sydney in 2014 and Osaka in 2013. The Romania will need to play aggressively and try and move Keys around in order to close out her points. The man that announced us on the court said two words in Romanian, so that motivated me a lot. I don’t think he has it here.
“In the third set I just said that I have to calm down”, Halep said.
It was a match Keys would no doubt like to quickly forget as she finished with 45 unforced errors and had her serve broken five times, including four times in the opening set. “It was really tough for me to hit winners today”.
The set was decided by tie-break, which Halep won 7-2 to go one set up. At 30-30, Keys was at the net for an easy volley, but sent the ball wide.
“It was very tough, I feel really exhausted now, she played very well and she s very strong so I knew it was going to be like this”, Halep said. She called the Bucharest event “a small tournament” that nonetheless showed she was playing strong tennis. “But she can miss sometimes”. So I expect that I will not have a good rhythm because she can hit a victor and you don’t see the ball.
“I’m exhausted”, she added with a smile.
Halep was not the only Romanian athlete in the spotlight of late. “I was doing everything, I was fighting today”.
“I have to improve more in this way and I am just trying to enjoy more and more and to give everything I have to win”. “If I stayed in the back I would have no chance”. I just tried to be more aggressive. The Slovakian qualifier, who ousted Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard in the third round, fashioned a 6-4, 6-3 victory to end Konta’s impressive recent run and quash her hopes of becoming the first British player in 32 years to reach the top 10.
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The Romanian has two finals to contest on Sunday – having reached the doubles final with compatriot Monica Niculescu, but after retiring in last year’s final in Toronto, there is an element of unfinished business. It’s going to be a big challenge for me. I think I played a pretty good tournament.
