Hard work for Halep in Toronto WTA win over Gauff
Sports
Simona Halep beat Coco Gauff 6-4, 7-6 (7/2) at the WTA Toronto Masters.
TORONTO (AFP) - Simona Halep served twice for her match against Coco Gauff without success on Friday before finally securing a 6-4, 7-6 (7/2) quarter-final victory at the WTA Toronto Masters.
The former number one, a two-time winner in Canada, made hard work of her triumph over the rising American teenager who just missed a chance at cracking the world ranking top-10 for the first time.
Halep needed a second-set tiebreaker to advance into the semi-finals in just under two hours, lining up a meeting with seventh-seeded American Jessica Pegula.
Double Grand Slam champion Halep earned her 183rd match win at the Masters 1000 level.
Gauff fired a backhand into the net on Halep s first match point to end the encounter and lose her eighth straight set against the 30-year-old Romanian.
"I m really pleased with the way I stayed strong mentally," Halep said. "I fought for every point.
"That was really important because she was doing the same thing. It s never easy against her."
On Saturday, Halep will play her 29th Masters semi-final against Pegula, who defeated Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-3.
It will be the first meeting between the two.
"It s going to be a big challenge to face a new opponent. It s always like that," Halep said. "But it s a semi-final. So for sure she s going to play good tennis. She s solid.
"I will focus on myself and I will just fight for the match as I do here every time."
