TIRED HALEP WINS ROGERS CUP
Pushes for players to get more rest
The final of the Rogers Cup women’s event was a matter of breaks, as in service breaks.
Top seed Simona Halep of Romania defeated third-seeded American Sloane Stephens 7-6 (6), 3-6, 6-4 to win the Canadian Open title for the second time in three years.
Neither player was able to hold her serve on a consistent basis, and 15 of the 30 service games resulted in breaks. Considering the way both players struggled with the serve throughout the twohour and 41-minute match, it was ironic that Halep would secure the victory with her fourth ace of the match.
“I really wanted it because I couldn’t finish the games before,” said Halep. “At 5-4, I said that I have to serve bigger. During the match, it was a little bit softer. I had a little bit of pain in my abs. It was tough to hit constant. In the last game I just wanted to hit it, so I was lucky to hit an ace at the match point.”
The final was the end of a gruelling week for Halep. She had to play two matches on Thursday because of rain the night before, had a night match Friday and then an afternoon semifinal on Saturday.
Halep, who beat Stephens in the French Open final to cement her claim to the No. 1 ranking, was able to get through the week because she is stronger than she has been in the past.
“I get tired during the matches, but I have enough rhythm and also enough power in the muscles to stay there,” said Halep. “Then I think the serve is a bit better. Also my forehand is stronger. I can do much more with it. With the backhand, normally I want just to finish some points. I think everywhere I improved a little bit.
“Today I hit some drop shots, which I don’t normally do, but because I was too tired. They were OK. I feel like I’m a stronger player in all the ways this year.”
Halep complained about the scheduling earlier in the week and had a suggestion for the future.
“I couldn’t believe that it’s over,” said Halep, who collapsed to the court after the final point.
“This week, it’s been an amazing effort. Also I was really tired. I feel like these tournaments at this level, you have to have actually one day off between the matches. It’s really tough. It’s brutal, the effort for me. This week it was really tough. It was raining. For everybody is a little bit tough. But I think it’s a good idea if this thing is going to be changed, just to have one day off between the matches. We will see in the future.”
While the result was the same, Stephens said she felt better than she did when she lost to Halep at the French Open. That match also went three sets but Stephens faded in the third set and lost 6-1.
“In a final, you hope for matches like that, super competitive, high energy,” said Stephens. “I mean, there’s nothing more than you could hope for in a final. Obviously (it’s) upsetting that I didn’t win. But I think I got better today. I got better than the last final we played. Yeah, it’s disappointing, but I think this will help me moving forward, getting ready to go into Cincy and the US Open. (I’m) just going to kind of take it all in, realize I did a good job this week, and I can be proud of myself for that.
“I wanted to play two hard sets. I played three hard sets today,” added Stephens. “It was better than I had hoped.”
Stephens reached the final by breezing through four matches without the loss of a set. In each of those matches, she jumped to an early lead but it was a different story on Sunday. Halep broke Stephens in the third and fifth games to take a 4-1 lead. Stephens responded with two breaks of her own and she had two set points with Halep serving at 5-6 but she was unable to secure the break.
Halep double-faulted twice and made two unforced errors to fall behind 5-2 in the tiebreaker. Stephens had two set points at 6-4, but Halep won four points in a row to win the set.
Stephens broke Halep three times to win the second set and Halep used three breaks to go ahead 5-2 in the third set.
Halep could have ended the match when she was serving at 5-2 but she double-faulted at match point and Stephens picked up her second break of the set.
In the next game, Halep had two more match points when she went ahead 15-40 on Stephens’ serve. Halep sent a service return long and then Stephens stayed alive when she gambled on a rare foray to the net and hit a volley winner.
The win was worth $519,480 U.S. for Halep while Stephens earned $252,425.
Stefanos Tsitsipas was feeling good about himself, and for great reason.
The affable Athens native enjoyed an excellent run through the Rogers Cup at the Aviva
Centre in Toronto, knocking off four top-10 players.
In front of a packed centre court in the final on Sunday, Tsitsipas was put firmly in his place by a living tennis legend.
Rafael Nadal was having none of the young Greek’s rise, spanking the youngster 6-2, 7-6 (4) to win for the 80th time in his stellar career.
Tsitsipas had several names in mind for Nadal after, and they were all complimentary.
“He will always grab you like a bulldog and always have you — he will always make you suffer on the court,” said Tsitsipas, who was celebrating his 20th birthday.
“It is amazing what he has built as a player. He was normal like all of us, and he managed to become this beast, this monster that he is today. That’s how you feel when you play against him.”
Nadal joined Jimmy Connors (109 titles), Roger Federer (98) and Ivan Lendl (94) as the only men to win at least 80 tournaments.
It marked the fourth time the 32-year-old Nadal, ranked No. 1 in the world, won the Rogers Cup, and it extended his career-leading total of Masters 1000 championships to 33, three more than Federer and six more than Novak Djokovic.
“It’s not about the 80th title,” said Nadal, who won the Rogers Cup for the first time since 2013.
“It’s about winning another Masters 1000.
“The 80th tournament is, of course, a great number, an important one. Very happy. But Masters 1000s are tournaments so difficult to win, sometimes are even more difficult to win than Grand Slams, because you can’t avoid tough opponents.
“I came here with the goal to win it. But I knew it was going to be a very tough one to make happen and it happened. So I’m very happy.”
In the doubles final, the second-seeded pair of Henri Kontinen and John Peers beat Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus 6-2, 6-7 (7), 10-6.
On a sunny afternoon, Nadal was clinical at times on the way to picking up a US$1,020,425 paycheque. In the first set, Nadal was dominant with his forehand, winning in 34 minutes as Tsitsipas couldn’t hide his frustration.
When Nadal went up 2-1, Tsitsipas turned and whacked a ball clean out of the stadium. Nadal twice broke Tsitsipas in the opening set, forcing his less-experienced opponent to move around the court and taking Tsitsipas out of his comfort zone.
At one point, a fan was heard to yell “Have mercy!” as Nadal put his expertise on display.
In the second set, Nadal was up 5-3 and was on the verge of winning when Tsitsipas stormed back to take the next three games.
Nadal tied the set 6-6, then won the tiebreaker 7-4, capturing match point on a forehand winner. Nadal fell to his knees in triumph as the crowd, which had been behind Tsitsipas as well, roared in approval.
The match took one hour, 42 minutes to complete.
Tsitsipas earned $500,340 and will be ranked No. 15 in the world after starting the tournament at No. 27.
He impressed many on and off the court in beating Dominic Thiem, Djokovic, Alexander Zverev and Kevin Anderson.
Said Nadal of Tsitsipas: “He has everything. He has a very complete game. Big serve, great shots from the baseline. If he is able to keep improving, he will be fighting for the most important titles in tennis.”
Nadal later announced he would skip a Masters tournament in Cincinnati this week to rest for the U.S. Open.
“No other reason than personally taking care of my body and trying to keep as healthy as I feel now,” Nadal said in a statement.
Nadal proffered some advice not only for Tsitsipas, but to any up-and-coming player.
“I go on the court to improve something,” Nadal said.
“That’s the way I understand my career, the way I understand the sport. And when I arrive on a day and that does not happen, that’s going to be the day that I take a boat and go fishing.”