No. 15 seed and two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep won the Canadian Open title on Sunday afternoon, after defeating Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 in two hours and 16 minutes. The match lasted two hours.
It was the fourth time that Simona Halep and Beatriz Haddad Maia met on the tennis court. Simona had won two of the previous matches played against the Brazilian.
With this victory, her third in Canada but first in Toronto, Halep won her second title of the year, the 24th of her career and the biggest since winning in Rome two years ago. After a year outside of the world’s top-10 she is also projected to rise from No. 16 to sixth this week.
Tt’s the first time Halep wins a WTA trophy with Patrick Mouratoglou as her coach, whom she also wanted to thank in her speech when receiving the trophy.
“It’s hard to start somewhere, I have a lot of things to say, but I’m very tired, it was a hard fight. Congratulations Beatriz, you have done a good job this week and throughout the year for that matter, you have won so many titles and so many matches. Thank you for today, it was an amazing fight, and I wish you and your team the best of luck for the US Open.
Canada is a special place for me, I’ve won twice in Montreal but never here, so it’s a special day. I worked hard, because I really wanted to win in front of you, I see many Romanian, Canadian, Brazilian flags. Thank you for supporting us today. It was a wonderful atmosphere. A few months ago, I didn’t think I could win this trophy. Patrick, thank you for believing in me and standing by me, I hope I made you proud today. Maybe we didn’t play great, but we fought and that’s what counts. Let’s hope there will be many more trophies together. Also, thank you Arnaud (n.r. Arnaud Restifo), thank you Candice (n.r. Candice Gohier)”, said Simona Halep
Simona Halep won the Canadian Open twice, which is played alternately in Montreal and Toronto, each time winning when the competition took place in Montreal (2016, 2018). However, in 2015, when she also reached the final in Toronto, she lost.
With this recent victory, Halep also secured a $439,700 cheque and 900 WTA points.