(Toronto) Seasoned player Simona Halep, victorious over Jessica Pegula, will play her 18th in Toronto on Sunday.e final of a WTA 1000, and will aim for a 9e title, against Beatriz Haddad Maia, Karolína Plíšková’s faller and neophyte at this stage of a tournament in this category.
Updated yesterday at 9:25 p.m.
Just over two weeks from the United States Open, where she never did better than a semi-final in 2015, the year she was also a finalist in Toronto, the Romanian (15e world) confirms its fine summer, marked by a semi-final at Wimbledon. And more generally her return to form, a year after leaving the top 10 due to a series of injuries (shoulder, thigh…).
Twice winner of the Canadian Open, in 2016 and 2018, editions then played in Montreal, Halep qualified Saturday for her 18e final of a WTA 1000, an event ranked just below the Grand Slam tournaments, by overthrowing 2-6, 6-3 and 6-4 the American Jessica Pegula (7e).
After this success, she did not hide her satisfaction.
PHOTO DAN HAMILTON, USA TODAY SPORTS
Simona Halep
We had never played against each other before, so I didn’t really know what to expect. It was a great fight. I’m really happy to have made it through. I can improve. But I’m gaining confidence, I’m building my game, and I’m really happy to be in this position.
Simona Halep
experience and resistance
The old noh 1 in the world (in 2017), winner of Roland-Garros (2018) and Wimbledon (2019), will aim for a 9e title in a WTA 1000, she who gleaned 23 in all categories on the circuit.
Halep, 30, ended up making his experience speak, after resisting the very attacking start to the match from Pegula, semi-finalist last year in Montreal and who was hoping to win a second title in 2022 after the Washington tournament in 2019.
Annoyed at the start of the match by her unforced errors, in particular her 3e and 4e double faults, which each time offered a break to her opponent, Halep recovered after losing the first set.
The one who had not lost any round of the tournament so far was able to make the exchanges last and pushed Pegula to make a few mistakes. Having managed to escape 4-1, the Romanian had to erase four break points to then equalise.
In the more consistent third set, Halep continued her momentum to escape 5-2, but with courage, Pegula snatched a break against break, then saved two match points on her serve. This provoked the ire of the Romanian, who angrily swept her racquet on the cement, before regaining control and finishing the job on her third opportunity, after 2 hours 14 minutes.
“The fire is back”
“The fire is back, it’s a good sign if I do this,” she smiled afterwards.
She will have to be wary of Beatriz Haddad Maia (24e world), who proved to be very solid to dismiss another former noh 1 in the world (also in 2017), in the person of the Czech Karolína Plíšková (14e).
The 26-year-old Brazilian, who notably offered herself the scalp of the noh World No. 1 Iga Świątek in the round of 16 is experiencing a sudden and late emergence on the circuit, having won the first three tournaments of her career this season, in Saint-Malo, Birmingham and Nottingham.
And now she reached the final of a WTA 1000 for the first time, making her the first player from her country to do so.
In their third encounter, each having won a game so far, Haddad Maia put Plíšková under pressure going into a 5-1 escape. Bandaged in one thigh, the 30-year-old Czech came back to 5-4, without however preventing the Brazilian from winning the first set.
Plíšková, finalist of the National Bank Open last year in Montreal, showed better in the second half, but at 5-3, two points from the set, she lost her footing.
In the highly contested decisive game, the Brazilian was able to erase an equalizer in one set everywhere, before finally winning on her second match point in 2 hours 3 minutes.