Simona Halep beat a mistake-prone Madison Keys 7-6 (7/2), 6-3 yesterday to win the WTA Montreal hardcourt tournament and claim her 14th career singles crown.
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In the second set, Halep but looked frustrated despite making light work of Keys, who’s inconsistent game and a number of unforced errors saw her trailing at 4-1. Previous year in Toronto, the Romanian got to the final, where she lost to Belinda Bencic after retiring in the third set with an illness.
“I was a little bit nervous at the beginning of the match and I didn’t really feel the ball”.
Simona Halep, of Romania, returns to Angelique Kerber, of Germany, during women’s semifinal Rogers Cup tennis action, in Montreal on Saturday, July 30, 2016. “But in the second set I didn’t lose serve, so that made the second set easier to win”. I know her pretty well.
It would be risky to rule Keys out in this one, who is available at a tempting [2.68] to win, as she has the style to take the fight to Halep and come out on top if she is playing at the level she’s capable of.
After rallying to beat 17th seed Elina Svitolina in three sets in the last 16, Australian Open champion Kerber eased past her 19-year-old opponent in an hour. Kerber advanced to the semifinals by defeating Daria Kasatkina in the semifinals by a score of 6-2, 6-2.
The Romanian took the set on the second of five potential set points in the tiebreaker when Keys hit a backhand wide.
Hear from Halep as she discusses her week in Montreal, her plans for the upcoming weeks without the Olympics, and why she never, ever, skips a good dessert.
“I want to say thank you to my team”. That was everything in my mind when I started to play’.
She said: “I knew that it was going to be a tough one, always when I play against her it was a tough match”.
The 21-year-old Keys won the Wimbledon tuneup event in Birmingham, England, this year for her second WTA Tour title, then reached the fourth round at Wimbledon.
In the day s other quarter-finals, American Madison Keys took on Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Britain s Johanna Konta faced Kristina Kucova, the Slovakian qualifier who ousted Canadian Eugenie Bouchard in the third round.
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“My elbow is feeling much better”, Kerber said.
