Romanian tennis star Simona Halep wins Rogers Cup

Romanian tennis star Simona Halep won the Rogers Cup in Canada, after a two-set victory against American Madison Keys (7-6, 6-3), on Sunday, July 31. In her way to the final, Simona Halep beat Australian Daria Gavrilova in the second round (6-2, 6-3), Czech Karolina Pliskova in the third round (6-3,6-3), and Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarter finals (3-6, 6-1, 6-1). In the semifinals, she had a thrilling match against German Angelique Kerber, the tournament’s favorite, Halep won 6-0, 3-6, 6-2, after she was behind 0-2 in the last set. This is the third tournament Halep has won this year, after the Mutua Madrid Open, in May, and the BRD Bucharest Open earlier in July. Simona Halep also played the Rogers Cup final in 2015 but was forced to retire due to heat illness. Simona Halep also reached the Rogers Cup final in the doubles competition, where she makes team with Romanian Monica Niculescu. The pair will face Russian duo Ekaterina Makarova/Elena Vesnina. Rogers Cup is the third oldest tennis competition, after Wimbledon and US Open. The women’s competition takes place in Montreal whereas the men’s tournament is played in Toronto. Rogers Cup is a WTA Premier 5 event with total cash prizes of USD 2.4 million. Simona Halep got almost USD 500,000 and 900 WTA points for her victory. Halep has reached 14 trophies in her career and USD 13.6 million prize money. Zika fear keeps Romanian star Simona Halep away from Rio Olympics editor@romania-insider.com (Photo source: couperogers.com)