Tennis: Kerber, Halep set up Wimbledon rematch in Montreal
Simona Halep set up a semi-final showdown with Angelique Kerber at the WTA Montreal tournament.
MONTREAL (AFP) - Romania s Simona Halep rallied for a 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 victory over Svetlana Kuznetsova on Friday to set up a semi-final showdown with Angelique Kerber at the WTA Montreal tournament.
Halep, seeded fifth, will have a chance to avenge her quarter-final Wimbledon defeat at the hands of Australian Open champion Kerber, who reached the final four in Montreal with an emphatic 6-2, 6-2 victory over teenager Daria Kasatinka.
"It was very tough, I feel really tired now, she played very well and she s very strong so I knew it was going to be like this," Halep said.
"All I can say is that I m very happy I could win against her, because we always have tough matches."
Once Halep shook off some early nerves, she was able to pressure the Russian veteran s serve and was rewarded when Kuznetsova surrendered an early break in the second set with a double fault.
Halep seized control for good with an early break in the third to keep alive her hopes improving on her runner-up finish in Canada last year -- when she retired from the final against Belinda Bencic with an illness.
While Kerber encountered little resistance against Russia s Kasatinka she said Halep wold be another matter.
"It s going to be tough," Kerber said. "We ve played a lot of good matches in the past."
In the day s other quarter-finals, American Madison Keys took on Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Britain s Johanna Konta faced Kristina Kucova, the Slovakian qualifier who ousted Canadian Eugenie Bouchard in the third round.
