Simona Halep and Beatriz Haddad Maia are through to the women’s final of the Canadian Open.
Halep, perhaps sluggish from her win over Gauff, started slowly but recovered in time to register a 2-6 6-3 6-4 win over Jessica Pegula to reach her 19th WTA Final since 2009.
Pegula took full advantage of Halep’s slow start to wrap up the 35-minute first set with an ace. But the two-time champion stormed back to break early in the second set and equalize the scores.
Another break at 3-2 in the decider sent Halep on her way to her 37th win of the year. As a result, the Romanian will enter the Top-10 rankings for the first time in over a year.
In the other semi-final, Beatriz Haddad Maia added Karolína Plíšková’s name to the list of favourites she has overcome with a 6-4, 7-6 win.
The Brazilian broke the big-serving Czech to open the match and produced two excellent first serves to capture the first set before Pliskova responded with more aggressive play in the second set, which resulted in a 5-2 lead.
Haddad Maia weathered the barrage and mounted a comeback to force a tiebreak where Pliskova saved one match point before double-faulting to end the hard-fought affair.
The unseeded Haddad Maia has defeated local favourite Leylah Fernandez, world number one Iga Swiatek and Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Belinda Bencic en route to her first WTA 1000 event final.
Before the Canadian Open final, Haddad Maia has beaten Halep in the semifinals of the Birmingham Classic earlier this year, a tournament she went on to win for her lone WTA title.
In the men’s bracket, Hubert Hurkacz battled back from a set and a break down to beat Casper Ruud 5-7 6-3 6-2 and reach the final where he will meet Pablo Carreno Busta after the Spaniard battled nearly three hours to eke out a 7-5 6-7(7) 6-2 victory against Briton Dan Evans in the second semi-final.
