It seems like the Romanian tennis star is into another mission to reach the summit of women's tennis. With Johanna Konta being the one who stopped Halep at her previous attempt of this kind (earlier this year in Wimbledon quarterfinals), their clash in Cincinnati had some solid background with the current world No. 2 seeking her first hard court success over the No. 1 Brit. In the end, the victory landed in Simona Halep's back pocket putting her two clicks away from that elusive world No. 1 position. Moreover, 2015 Cincinnati runner-up will be playing in her third Western & Southern Open semifinal in a row.
It is indeed a tournament where feels quite well.
Halep was able to get over the mental barrier she had with Konta
Both Halep and Konta entered the encounter with high-expectations on their corners. But, Konta had the upper hand as she won their two WTA level meetings earlier this year, in Miami and Wimbledon, and they occurred following a similar scenario.
After losing the opening set, Konta was able to turn the table the other way around. Not this time as Simona Halep managed to get past the sourness of wasting several match points to finally conquer the Brit fortress. The opening set had no one taking full control of the encounter. Several breaks of serve in a row increased the drama. Finally, Halep converted her second set point to get her nose in front.
The second act saw Halep taking matters into her own hands only to see Konta racing from behind. With the Brit saving several match points in the process, it seemed that that old scenario with Konta marching over a deflated Halep was about to happen. The tie-break of the set saw the scenario shifting dramatically as Halep didn't allow Konta to do any damage.
Sloane Stephens seeks some solid results on her return
Being off the court for nearly a year due to a lingering injury, Sloane Stephens is gathering momentum in North America. Some wild-card entries helped her a lot but her game has proved to be instrumental. In Cincinnati she had a tough draw getting past Lucie Safarova, Petra Kvitova, Ekaterina Makarova and Julia Georges en route to the semis.
Now, she will take on Simona Halep for a place in ladies singles. In head to head stats, Halep leads Stephens by 4-2 with the American player losing their last three meetings. The winner of this match-up will have to deal with the surviving side of Karolina Pliskova vs Garbine Muguruza showdown. Moreover, if she goes all the way, Halep will enter US Open as the world No. 1 and the highest seed.
