Kei Nishikori, Madison Keys in Rogers Cup finals
Madison Keys celebrates her victory over Kristina Kucova, of Slovakia, in a semifinal at the Rogers Cup tennis tournament. (Photo: AP)
Madison Keys celebrates her victory over Kristina Kucova, of Slovakia, in a semifinal at the Rogers Cup tennis tournament. (Photo: AP)
Simona Halep reasserted herself in the third set to seal a 6-0, 3-6, 6-2 victory over Angelique Kerber on Saturday and reach the final of the WTA hardcourt tournament in Montreal.
Romania’s Halep, the fifth seed, avenged a loss to Germany’s Kerber in the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, settling her second-set nerves to secure the win in one hour and 38 minutes. In the other semi-final, American 10th seed Madison Keys reached her first WTA Tour hardcourt final by crushing qualifier Kristina Kucova in straight sets 6-2, 6-1.
In Toronto, Novak Djokovic and Japan’s Kei Nishikori both powered through in straight sets to set up a repeat of a high-profile spring final.
Top seed Djokovic dismissed Gael Monfils 6-3, 6-2 in 74 minutes, winning the 14th of his last 15 matches at Masters 1000 events.
Nishikori took advantage of a fade in form from Stan Wawrinka as Asia's top player reached the title match with a 7-6 (8/6), 6-1 win.
Third seed Nishikori lost to Djokovic for the title in Miami in early April.
“It's going to be interesting. I haven't beat Novak for a long time on hard court. In Miami he kind of dominated the game. So I hope I can get revenge this time,” Nishikori said.
Djokovic found his game in perfect order as he stopped the victory run of tenth seeded Monfils.
“Gael has been in terrific touch, winning Washington last week. He's won most of his matches here comfortably. I had to stick with it to win this one,” Djokovic said.