Romanian tennis player Simona Halep willed herself past Sara Errani to become the first player to reach the final of the USD 2,513,000 Rogers Cup in Toronto, wtatennis.com reports.
There was very little between them – for an hour and 35 grueling minutes on centre court Halep and Errani put on a dazzling display of baseline tennis, showing off their rock solid groundstrokes and chasing down just about everything they could. And Errani had her moments – she went up 2-0 right out of the gates, with points for 3-0, and after Halep was just moments away from closing the match out up 6-4, 4-2, Errani clawed back to 4-all. She even saved three match points when she was down 6-4, 5-4.
But in the end the No.2-seeded Romanian finally closed out the No.15-seeded Italian, 6-4, 6-4.
Halep’s numbers were just bigger in the match – she had eight more unforced errors (23 to 15) but that deficit was more than made up for with 17 more winners (26 to 9). Final points count: 73 to 64.
“It was a very tough match today. Sara played amazing. She was running everywhere, and she was putting so many balls back in the court, so it was very difficult for me to finish the points. But I did everything I could to finish the match in two sets because I didn’t know how I would do in the third! I’m very happy to make it through this match and play the finals here in Toronto now,” Halep said after the match.
Romanian tennis player Simona Halep battled hard to end the winning streak of Emirates Airline US Open Series frontrunner Angelique Kerber and reach the quarterfinals of the Rogers Cup in Toronto, wtatennis.com informs.
In the second semi-final, Belinda Bencic pulled off the biggest win of her blossoming career on Saturday night, outlasting Serena Williams in an electric match at the Rogers Cup in Toronto.
An upset didn’t look so likely early on – Williams stormed out to a 5-1 lead right out of the gates, and even though Bencic played herself into it nicely from there, closing the gap by two games before dropping the first set, 6-3, and staying even through 3-all in the second, it still seemed a longshot.
But that’s when she pounced – Bencic began tightening the screws on her unforced errors and instead it was Williams who began making some uncharacteristic miscues. Bencic went up 5-3 in the second set, and after Williams caught up to 5-all, the Swiss rattled off the next six games in a row – and seven of the next eight – to not only take the second set, 7-5, but build a massive 5-1 lead in the third set.
Williams, a 21-time Grand Slam champion and the World No.1 for almost two and a half years straight now, clawed back – she won the next three games to close the gap to 5-4, and she fired an ace to go up 15-0 in that game, seemingly on her way to drawing even. But Bencic lifted her game one last time, just in time, blasting one last forehand winner to edge the No.1-seeded American, 3-6, 7-5, 6-4.