Day Six of the Rogers Cup promised closer contests than most of the quarter finals which were rather one sided affairs, especially three of the WTA matches in Montreal. The best of the quarter finals was that in Toronto between Nadal and Cilic which featured the best played set of the tournament from Marin before the expected comeback by Nadal who took the final two sets in a quality contest.
Today’s semi finals assembled both current stars and emerging talent:
WTA Montreal:
Simona Halep (1) v Ash Barty (15)
Elina Svitolina (5) v Sloane Stephens (3)
Three of the four were semi finalists from last year, with Caroline Wozniacki the only one missing, Barty the new addition to the final four.
Svitolina was the defending champion and Halep won in 2016 after a runner-up finish the year before.
Halep and Barty clashed first, with Halep winning the toss and electing to receive.
- Barty had game point with a great sliced backhand but winners fromHalep brought her a service break and a 1-0 lead. Errors from Barty helped a confident and noisy Halep to 2-0 as I pressed the mute button to eliminate the incessant screaming. A pity Barty couldn’t do the same.
A netted backhand from Barty was followed by three big serves, one an ace, and she held easily to place something on the board 1-2
On Halep’s serve, the two exchanged errors then winners, Halep a backhand and Barty a forehand return. Then a brace of unforced Aussie mistakes gave Halep a 3-1 advantage.
Halep broke the Barty serve once more after Ash wasted two game points and the Romanian was storming to an opening set win at 4-1.
Then Halep couldn’t convert two game points and was broken for the first time and led 4-2.
However, it was enough as all remaining service games for the set were held without facing break chances and Halep led 6-4.
Barty was in the match though, and hoping for a better start in set two.
Leading 30-0, Barty managed to drop serve and trail 0-1, in a repeat of the opening set beginning.
A love game from Halep rubbed salt into the wound. 2-0 for the world number one, accompanied by louder vocals.
A forehand winner and brilliance at the net from Halep presented her with two break points and Barty kindly delivered the break with a double fault. Halep was fast tracking her way to her third Canadian final in four years with the double break 3-0.
Barty hit two winners, one an extraordinary backhand, and had Halep facing 0-40 in the fourth game. However, these were all saved, plus another, and it was 4-0.
In the sixth game, Barty hit two clean winners down the line to set up break points on separate occasions. Each time it was saved on behalf of Halep through horrible unforced Barty error.
Inevitably it was a service hold and Halep was a single game from the win.
Serving to stay in the match, Barty dished up a double fault and two errors you’d expect from a beginner, and Halep had three match points.
These were all,saved, and Barty even had a game point.
But as had been the case a number of times in the match, the Australian found a way to waste the chance to convert a game lead, and made a mess of the rest, double faulting on the final point.
Simona Halep won convincingly 6-4 6-1, and the screaming finally ended, lasting 70 minutes.
The relentless attacking Ash Barty that we saw in her quarter final against Bertens was sadly missing today. It was a more timid, conservative version, less willing to move forward and take on Halep where chances were often offered to finish points early. One should hope that her coach may take note of this, and lessons can be learned from the defeat.
Meanwhile Halep continues a terrific 2018, barely missing a beat.
And Ash Barty with Dutch partner Demi Schuurs (seeded 8) reached the doubles final, defeating seventh seeds Nicole Melichar of the USA and Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic 7-5 6-3.
- Sloane Stephens (3) defeated defending champion Elina Svitolina (5) in straight sets 6-3 6-3 and will play Simona Halep in the final, a replay of their Roland Garros final earlier this year.
Sloane had 11 break chances in the match and converted 5, while Elina had 10 opportunities, but only used 2 to break the American serve.
It was always an uphill battle for Svitolina as she trailed 0-4 in the opening set and 1-3 in the second, each time making comebacks, but being shut out by the reigning US Open champion. Stephens is looking good for a successful defence of that crown, and certainly here the title could be hers - yet to drop a set all tournament and has won 49 games to 19
ATP Toronto:
Rafa Nadal (1) v Karen Khachanov
Kevin Anderson (4) v Stefanos Tsitsipas
Firstly, Anderson played Tsitsipas, and it was three sets of fantastic tennis.
- Teenage Greek sensation Tsitsipas turns 20 tomorrow, and his birthday present came 24 hours early when he defeated Kevin Anderson (4) 6-7(4) 6-4 7-6(7). At 6-4 in the third set tie break, with two match points, he served a double fault, the first of three straight points to Anderson. That gave Anderson his first match point. Tsitsipas saved that and an ace presented him with another match point but on Anderson’s serve. This time he was successful.
In summary, en route to the Rogers Cup final, his first at Masters 1000 level, Stefanos has knocked over four top ten players, including the defending champion Sascha Zverev, and the two Wimbledon finalists from a month ago, Novak Djokovic and Kevin Anderson. Throw in this years Roland Garros finalist Dominic Thiem who Tsitsipas cleaned up in round two, and you can see why the young player is just about the hottest property in tennis at the moment.
Even his opening round opponent, Damir Dzumhur was ranked 24 coming into Toronto, three places ahead of Stefanos.
That ranking has improved to 15 by virtue of his making the final and would move to 12 if he won the whole box and dice.
- Rafa Nadal (1) defeated Karen Khachanov 7-6(3) 6-4 in a tight semi final, and will play Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final.
If the Spaniard wins, it will be 33 Masters 1000 titles to him, more than anyone else has amassed.
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