Simona Halep won the 2018 Rogers Cup in Montreal with a hard fought 7-6(8-6), 3-6, 6-4 victory over Sloan Stephens.

In a rematch of this year’s French Open, Halep started the more aggressively, racing in to a 4-1 lead before Stephens began to find her range to tie the score at 4-4. The set moved on to a tie break after a total of 6 breaks, perhaps showing the defensive skills of both players. The dramatic tie break was eventually taken by Halep, as the sweltering conditions made it tough on both players physically.

Stephens upped her game considerably in the second set as Halep’s own game dipped, and the match was soon tied as Stephens wrapped up the set 6-3.

Inevitably, the third set was a tense affair, with Halep breaking in the opening game, and then fending off break point before holding on a slightly fortunate net cord, to lead 2-0. But Stephens was not to be denied, breaking back to level at 2-2. Halep then raced to a 5-2 lead, breaking Stephens in game 5 from 40-0 down, holding her own serve in game 6 with some punishing serves reaching 175km, and again breaking Stephens in game 7- a poor service game from Stephens as her unforced error count mounted. But a gutsy display from Stephens, along with vocal support from her coaching corner, saw her bring the score back to 5-4, having saved match points in game 8, and again in game 10 . However Halep served out at the second time of asking, sealing victory with an ace, before falling to the ground in celebration, after 2 hours and 41 minutes of gruelling play.

The series moves on to Cincinnati this week, in the build-up to the US Open which starts on August 27. On present form it may well be likely to see the same match up once more in the ladies’ final.

Roddy Christie
Front Page News