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By Erik Gudris | Friday, July 29, 2016

 
Simona Halep Montreal

Simona Halep overcame a bad first set before completely overwhelming Svetlana Kuznetsova to reach the last four in Montreal.

Photo Credit: Getty Images


Simona Halep is once again finding Canada to be a happy place as she returns to the Rogers Cup semifinals for a second year.

But the fifth seeded Romanian had to overcome a rough start against No. 9 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova before booking her place in the final four.

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Halep, who lost her last meeting with Kuznetsova in Sydney, entered her quarterfinal tied at 3-all in her head to head with the Russian veteran.

Early in the opening set, Halep looked out of sorts with her game. She also had a tough time playing on the windier side of the court. Kuznetsova, with big hitting, capitalized by jumping out to a quick 3-0 lead.

Halep used a coaching consult with Darrin Cahill to help settle her mind and her game. Halep, who racked up 14 unforced errors in the set, couldn’t stop Kuznetsova from eventually closing out the set 6-3 thanks to a winning forehand return.

The second set, however, proved a completely different story.

Halep started looking more settled in her game while Kuznetsova herself could not keep up her earlier form. Kuznetsova struck a double fault in her opening service game to hand Halep an early service break. Kuznetsova then did the same in her next service game to put Halep ahead 3-0.

Halep, playing much cleaner tennis, eventually wrapped up the second set 6-1.

During another coaching consult on the changeover, Halep was told by Cahill to focus on hitting big serves. Not so much to win this match, but with the goal of having a bigger serve when she needed it later in the year.

“You're serving well. The serve is on me. I changed it. So if it lets you down that's my bad. That's on me. Have confidence to go after it. You're defending your second serve better. The only way for us to get better is to think big picture all the time,” Cahill said.

Halep continued moving forward in the final set as her groundstrokes pushed Kuznetsova further back from the baseline.

Halep ripped a backhand down the line winner to secure an early service break and essentially take complete control of the match. Kuznetsova never found her early form and soon found herself trailing again by a double break.

Halep soon served for the match. With a potent forehand on her third match point, Halep claimed the comeback 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 win.


“It was very difficult for me at the beginning of the first set because I didn’t feel the ball and I didn’t feel her game because she has a lot of topspin and heavy balls. So I was just very nervous and focused on what I had to do,” Halep said to ESPN’s Renee Stubbs. “Then I feel she get a little bit tired and tighter, because I came back ok but couldn’t get the game for 5-4. So I started playing with more confidence and hit the ball stronger and hit the serve.”

This is now the second semifinal in two years for Halep in Canada. She reached the finals last year when the WTA event was held in Toronto.



 

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