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By Richard Pagliaro | Saturday, August 15, 2015

 
Simona Halep

Simona Halep reached her WTA-best fourth hard-court final of the year with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over 15th-seeded Sara Errani in Toronto.

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Romanian fans were chanting Simona Halep's name in unison while a grunting Sara Errani was fighting with enthusiasm as this Rogers Cup semifinal careened toward a dramatic climax.

Stress was swirling all around when Halep cracked.

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The second seed slapped a shot into the net squandering match point then spiked her Wilson racquet to the court.

Halep reloaded with a new stick, regrouped and completed a spirited 6-4, 6-4, charge into her WTA-best fourth hard-court final of the season.

The 23-year-old Romanian will play either 21-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams or 18-year-old Swiss Belinda Bencic in tomorrow's final.

"If I play against Serena I have nothing to lose," Halep told ESPN's Rennae Stubbs immediately after the match. "It will be a big challenge for me. I hope to have enough power to play a good match."

Playing her third straight semifinal, Errani burst out to a 2-0 lead before Halep put on the afterburner. Jetting forward, the Romanian ran down a drop shots, changed direction abruptly then surged back near the baseline hitting a backhand winner. That sequence sparked both the raucous crowd and Halep, who threw a massive Rafa Nadal-style uppercut to celebrate.

Recharged, Halep asserted her baseline aggression, sent Errani into defensive retrievals and ran through six of the next eight games to take the opening set.

Aggressive court positioning, timely strikes down the line and settling her churning stomach were all keys for Halep.

"It was difficult to manage the tension because to be honest I had a little bit of pressure before the match," Halep told Stubbs. "I said that I had nothing to lose because I come from a long break. But when you go on court you feel the tension and you feel like butterflies in your stomach. I had a tough match. I knew she was playing great and she would run very well today. I said I had to finish the point very fast, but I couldn't today. I played not my best tennis but I played well enough to win the match."

Breaking for a 2-1 second-set lead, Halep hit a forehand dart down the line for 3-1. The feisty 15th-seeded Italian wasn't done. Playing with strapping around her right thigh, Errani was defending even more vigorously when she broke back for 3-3.

When Halep passed Errani in the seventh game, Romanian fans erupted. Errani answered sarcastically waving her arms toward the crowd in a signal she wasn't yet done. She wasn't done. Halep put a forehand into the net for a third break point, spinning a second serve into net to drop serve. She compounded her issues with three sharp spikes of her racquet to the court then continued to play with the possibly cracked stick.




At 4-4 30-all, Halep anticipated the wide serve and crunched a forehand return winner down line for break point. Errani sent a backhand beyond the baseline as Halep broke back for 5-4.

Three match points came and went, including a 20-shot encounter that ended with Halep sticking a backhand into net and slamming her stick to the court in disgust. She picked up the new racquet, saved a break point and slide a serve winner for a fourth match point. This time, Errani pushed a backhand long and Halep dropped to her knees through to her first Rogers Cup final.


 

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