Simona Halep is on to the semifinals at the Canadian Open after defeating Coco Gauff in straight sets, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2).
The No. 6 seed in the tournament, Halep reaches her 29th WTA semifinal and her first in Toronto since 2018.
2⃣9⃣th WTA 1000 semifinal 👋Two-time champion 🇷🇴 @Simona_Halep secures her place in the final four after defeating Gauff 6-4, 7-6(2)!#NBO22 pic.twitter.com/AaeDrk1mSM— wta (@WTA) August 12, 2022
2⃣9⃣th WTA 1000 semifinal 👋Two-time champion 🇷🇴 @Simona_Halep secures her place in the final four after defeating Gauff 6-4, 7-6(2)!#NBO22 pic.twitter.com/AaeDrk1mSM
With the win, Halep is now a perfect 8-0 in sets against Gauff and is 3-0 in matches against her in 2022. She also hasn’t dropped a set yet in this tournament.
Gauff didn’t go down quietly, though, with her serve at one point reaching 123 miles per hour.
“Yeah definitely, Coco is an amazing player,” said Halep when asked if it had been her hardest match so far in Toronto.
“It’s always tough to play against her. Today was windy, again, and I struggled with the serve. But we fought through to the end and I think we played a great game today,” she added. “It was really tough to return her serve, she has improved so much in the serve and is so powerful. But I just had to stay focused for every ball and to fight for it.”
Each player served up three aces apiece, but Halep won 60 percent of her first serve points as opposed to Gauff’s 47 percent.
With the loss, Gauff will once again have to wait to break into the top 10. She will fall to No. 12 in the world, with Belinda Bencic once again climbing into the top 10.