Simona Halep to Face Serena Williams in Cincy Final
By Amanda Pruitt
Simona Halep is into her second final in as many weeks thanks to a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Jelena Jankovic in the semifinals of the Western & Southern Open on Saturday.
Halep will face defending champion Serena Williams in Sunday’s final.
After an exchange of service breaks to start the match, Halep won six consecutive games to take the first set 6-1 and a 1-0 lead to start the second. She broke Jankovic’s serve seven times during the match and dropped serve just twice.
With the win Saturday, Halep is projected to move to No. 2 in the world rankings next week, which also means a No. 2 seeding for the US Open.
Halep was also a finalist a week ago at the Rogers Cup in Montreal, where she retired in the third set to Belinda Bencic.
Notes
This is Halep’s first semifinal and final appearance in Cincinnati … Se is the first Romanian woman to reach the final … She has three titles this year (Indian Wells, Shenzhen, Dubai) … Jankovic was making her fourth semifinal appearance at Cincinnati, joining Serena Williams as the only two women in the open era to make four semifinals … Her 24 wins here are the most of any active player.