Bertens shocks No. 1 Halep to win Cincinnati title

Dutch challenger Kiki Bertens profited from a third-set collapse by Simona Halep to score the biggest win of her career Sunday, beating the world number one 2-6, 7-6 (8/6), 6-2 in the Cincinnati WTA final.

“This is the best day of my career, winning on a surface that you didn’t really like. That’s a great feeling,” Bertens said.

“I’m just so proud, and it’s such a great feeling to hold the trophy at the end of the week.”


Halep, who claimed the Montreal title a week ago and came into the final on a nine-match winning streak, ran out of reserves and was unable to stop the mounting Bertens momentum.

“I’ve lost three finals here, but maybe I will able to win one at this tournament because I love to play here,” said Halep, who fell to Serena Williams in the 2015 final of the hardcourt US Open tuneup and to Garbine Muguruza in the title match last year.

“I had match ball, so I was there,” Helep said. “I didn’t take my chance. In the third set I was empty and I couldn’t fight anymore.”

The upset took just over two hours and marked the 10th time this season that 17th-ranked Bertens has defeated a top 10 opponent.

“It was such a tough match, and after winning that second set I knew, anything is still possible — just keep on going,” said Bertens, who claimed a sixth career WTA title.

“Winning a title like this, my first hard court title, and against number one of the world, getting my career high on Monday … it’s  just coming everything together, I guess,” she added.

Bertens saved a Halep match point in the second-set tiebreaker to stay alive.

“I’m a little bit upset because I couldn’t manage better today, but that’s it. I’m like this, and I have to work more,” Halep said.


Halep had looked like ending a quick afternoon with a victory after breaking Bertens twice to sweep the first set.

But the 26-year-old Dutchwoman, who had considered retiring last season due to poor results, began to turn the tide in the second as she broke for a 3-1 lead.

Halep got that break back in the eighth game to make it 4-all, and took tighter control in the tiebreaker.

But Bertens won four games in the decider to take a 4-2 lead and quickly seized the set seconds after saving the match point.

Halep ‘exhausted’

Halep seriously faded in the final set, going down two breaks to trail 1-4.

Bertens kept up the pressure and advanced with a winner on her first match point, posting her second career win over Hale six years after beating her for the first time.

The depleted Halep is still entered as top seed in the upcoming WTA tournament in New Haven, which ends just two days prior to the start of the US Open in New York.

While not specifying if she will actually play, Halep said she would travel to Connecticut on Monday.

“For sure I need a little bit of rest because I’m exhausted.

“But also I take the positive from these two weeks,” she added. “It’s a great confidence (builder), and I’m looking forward actually for the next one to be better on court.”

source: sports.inquirer.net

7-time champ Serena Williams gets smooth draw at Wimbledon

LONDON — Serena Williams avoided any early matchups against opponents with success to speak of at Wimbledon in a draw on Friday that could put her against No. 5 seed Elina Svitolina in the third round.

Williams is returning to the grass-court tournament for the first time since 2016 after missing it last year while pregnant. She gave birth to a daughter in September.

She is ranked outside the top 150, but the All England Club decided to seed her 25th based on past success, which includes collecting seven of her 23 Grand Slam singles trophies at Wimbledon. Williams’ first-round opponent when play begins on Monday will be 107th-ranked Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands, who has one career tour title.


Williams is competing for the first time since she pulled out of the French Open ahead of a fourth-round showdown against five-time major champion Maria Sharapova in early June, citing an injured chest muscle. That was Williams’ return to Grand Slam action after a 16-month absence.

Rus has only once been as far as Wimbledon’s third round, back in 2012. That was the last time she won a match at the All England Club. She was beaten in the first round of qualifying a year ago, as were both of the women Williams could meet in the second round, 136th-ranked qualifier Viktoriya Tomova of Bulgaria and 167th-ranked wild-card recipient Tereza Smitkova of the Czech Republic.

Svitolina has only once been as far as the fourth round.

Williams’ possible fourth-round opponent, 2017 U.S. Open runner-up Madison Keys, made one quarterfinal appearance, while the 36-year-old American’s potential quarterfinal foe, reigning Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki, has never been beyond the fourth round.

Williams could face her older sister, five-time champion and 2017 runner-up Venus, in the semifinals. The ninth-seeded Venus Williams opens against 62nd-ranked Johanna Larsson of Sweden, who is 0-7 at Wimbledon.

The Williams sisters are not in the doubles draw. They have won 14 Grand Slam titles as a pair, including six at Wimbledon.

In the top half of the women’s singles bracket, the quarterfinals could be French Open champion Simona Halep vs. two-time Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova, and defending champ Garbine Muguruza vs. No. 6 Caroline Garcia. In the bottom half, No. 2 Wozniacki was drawn to face Svitolina, while 2017 U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens could play No. 7 Karolina Pliskova.

The potential men’s quarterfinals in the top half are eight-time champion Roger Federer vs. 2017 U.S. Open runner-up Kevin Anderson, and 2014 U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic vs. No. 6 seed Grigor Dimitrov. In the bottom half of the bracket, it could be two-time Wimbledon winner Rafael Nadal vs. 2009 U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro, and No. 4 Alexander Zverev vs. No. 7 Dominic Thiem.



Two-time champion Andy Murray will face 48th-ranked Benoit Paire in the first round. It’s a rematch of Murray’s fourth-round victory over the Frenchman at the All England Club in 2017.

That was Murray’s last win before he sat out nearly a year because of an injured hip that was surgically repaired in January.

He returned to action last week and so is ranked only 156th and unseeded at Wimbledon, which he won in 2013 and 2016.

Murray could face 26th-seeded Denis Shapovalov of Canada in the second round.

The top-seeded Federer’s opening opponent on Monday will be 57th-ranked Dusan Lajovic of Serbia. Their only previous meeting anywhere came in Wimbledon’s second round last year, when Federer won in straight sets en route to the title.

No. 2 seed Nadal, whose 17 Grand Slam titles trail only Federer’s 20 among men, faces 129th-ranked Dudi Sela of Israel on Tuesday. Nadal has won both of their previous matchups.

Men’s first-rounders to keep an eye on include Dimitrov against three-time major champion Stan Wawrinka, who is still working his way back into form after knee surgery; 12-time major champ Novak Djokovic against Australian Open quarterfinalist Tennys Sandgren of the U.S.; and No. 23 Richard Gasquet against Gael Monfils in a matchup of Frenchmen.

Two women who lost a Wimbledon final against Serena Williams will meet in the first round when former No. 1 and two-time major champion Angelique Kerber plays qualifier Vera Zvonareva. Kerber was the runner-up in 2016, Zvonereva in 2010.

Sharapova, the 2004 Wimbledon champion who is seeded 24th, could face 2017 French Open champion and 12th-seeded Jelena Ostapenko in the third round, and Kvitova in the fourth.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Halep wins Kasatkina grudge match to reach China Open semis

World number two Simona Halep reached the China Open semi-finals for the first time in her career after beating Russian Daria Kasatkina 6-2 6-1 on Friday.

Halep, who lost to Kasatkina in the second round of last month's Wuhan Open, was never at risk of suffering a second consecutive defeat by the 20-year-old, sending down 19 winners to wrap up the win in just over an hour.

"I think I played much better than Wuhan," the Romanian said after the match. "I changed tactics and worked pretty well. I just played my game and my style, and I was very consistent and solid as well."

The tournament in Beijing has already seen Halep register a first career victory over Russian Maria Sharapova, and the second seed now has an opportunity to level her head-to-head with Jelena Ostapenko, who beat her in this year's French Open final.

The mercurial Latvian bested Sorana Cirstea 6-4 6-4 in an error-strewn quarter-final that saw both players struggling to hold serve.

Ostapenko made a typically high 33 unforced errors, but her powerful forehand kept her out of trouble against Romanian Cirstea, who is also her doubles partner.

Twice-Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova fought off fatigue to dominate Czech compatriot Barbora Strycova 6-3 6-4 and reach her third Beijing semi-final.

Kvitova, who produced 33 winners offset by 43 unforced errors, said she was tired but very happy with the victory, and will meet Caroline Garcia in the last four.

"I couldn't just imagine this coming to Asia," Kvitova said. "I'm already happy. I love these big matches anyway, so I will do my best tomorrow.

"I felt a little bit tired today maybe. On the court I felt pretty slow. Maybe I wasn't, but that was my feeling. Sometimes it's pretty confusing."

Garcia came through a grueling contest that stretched for three hours and 21 minutes against world number three Elina Svitolina of Ukraine in the day's final match.

Playing with her right thigh heavily strapped, the Frenchwoman lost the first set, but clung on as the clock at the National Tennis Stadium ticked past midnight to prevail 6-7(5) 7-5 7-6(6). — Reuters

Halep in line for No. 1 after Cincinnati semifinal win

MASON, Ohio — Simona Halep moved within a victory of the No. 1 ranking.

The second-ranked Halep needed just 54 minutes to cruise past Sloane Stephens 6-2, 6-1 on Saturday in the Western & Southern Open semifinals, and can displace Karolina Pliskova as the top of the ranking with a victory over Garbine Muguruza on Sunday.

The fourth-ranked Muguruza reached her first W&S final with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over defending champion Pliskova.

The men’s final will feature two first-timers. Grigor Dimitrov outlasted John Isner 7-6 (4), 7-6 (10) in the first men’s semifinal. Nick Kyrgios beat David Ferrer 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4).

Halep, seeking her first No. 1 ranking, has yet to drop a set in the tournament and appears to be peaking at just the right time.

“I think I played my best match on hardcourt so far,” said Halep, who can become the first Romanian woman to be ranked No. 1. “It felt great. I moved very well today. From the first point, I felt like I was going to play good tennis.”

The final Sunday will be the first on American soil for Muguruza, who lost to Pliskova in last year’s W&S semifinals after losing to Serena Williams in the 2015 finals. The Spaniard had lost six straight matches against Pliskova since winning their first in 2013.

“I was very precise with my shots,” said Muguruza, who is 2-1 in her career against Halep, though the two haven’t played since 2015. “I wanted to be more aggressive and take my shots. I felt pretty good out there – under control. Everything went my way.”

Muguruza won when Pliskova sailed a forehand long on the fifth match point. Pliskova, who played part of one match and all of another Friday after rain forced postponements Thursday, had 28 unforced errors to Muguruza’s 13.

Muguruza was coming off playing the tournament’s longest match, a 2-hour, 45-minute three-set win over Svetlana Kuznetsova on Friday. That followed a 2-hour, 18-minute win over Madison Keys on Thursday, when she fought off three match points.

“I don’t think I played my best tennis today,” Pliskova said. “I think the energy was pretty low from my side. Obviously, a tough schedule for me the last two days – three matches in about not even 24 hours.

“I think she played very solid, not missing much and obviously serving well. Everything started, I think, in the first game of the first set.”

Muguruza took charge early, breaking Pliskova in the first and last games of the first set.

She gained a second-set edge with a backhand winner on break point for a 4-2 lead before closing it out in 1 hour, 19 minutes.

Stephens, playing her fourth tournament since returning from January foot surgery, also was playing a third match in a span of 24 hours.

“That’s never easy,” she said. “I’m going to go with that. I didn’t play that badly. She was a little fresher. It was just not a great day.”

The 11th-ranked Dimitrov, who lost in the last year’s semifinal to eventual champion Marin Cilic, had just one double fault and finished with nine unforced errors to No. 19 Isner’s 28 in the 2-hour, 3-minute match. The Bulgarian will play the winner of the semifinal between Nick Kyrgios, who knocked out second-ranked Rafael Nadal in straight sets in a Friday quarterfinal, and David Ferrer.

“Today was, I think, one of those matches that I really had to just be patient,” Dimitrov said. “I think that that was the key. I knew I’m not going to have that many rallies against John. I knew that he’s going to serve big, bold serves. I just had to be very composed and use every opportunity that I had. I think in the end of the match, it was just a few points that made the biggest difference for me. I’m just happy obviously with the win, but I’m just happy with the way I kept myself together throughout the whole match. Just remained calm in those tough moments. I mean, I know it’s nerve-wracking from outside, but it’s even tougher when you’re in there and have to receive a serve that comes 141 mph.”

Dimitrov’s composure was the key, according to Isner.

“The difference was he was a lot more decisive at the big moments,” Isner said. “He was a little calmer as well — a little more free-flowing in big moments. I thought he played a high-level match. He certainly is in good form. I played well enough to beat a lot of players today — just not him.”

Kyrgios and Ferrer displayed remarkably efficient serving in their nightcap. They combined for six break points, converting none.

source: sports.inquirer.net