Simona Halep reaches Rogers Cup semis

Will face Angelique Kerber next

MONTREAL — Second-seeded Angelique Kerber and fifth-seeded Simona Halep both advanced to the semifinals of the US$2.4 million women’s Rogers Cup on Friday.

Kerber breezed past unseeded Russian Daria Kasatkina 6-2, 6-2 in her quarter-final while Halep recovered from a slow start to defeat Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia 3-6, 6-1, 6-1.

There was concern that Kerber may not be able to play in the Rogers Cup after she withdrew from an event in Sweden last week with a left elbow injury, but the Australian Open champion from Germany didn’t show any ill-effects in a quarter-final that lasted exactly one hour.

Kerber and Halep will meet in the semifinals on Saturday.

Halep advanced to the semifinals for a second year in a row. Last year in Toronto, the Romanian got to the final, where she lost to Belinda Bencic after retiring in the third set with an illness.

The ninth-seeded Kuznetsova’s frustration was evident on centre court when, after dominating the opening set, Halep turned the tables in the second. Halep is coming off a win on clay in her home tournament in Bucharest two weeks ago.

Other quarter-finals later Friday have Madison Keys against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Johanna Konta versus Kristina Kucova, the Slovak qualifier who ousted Eugenie Bouchard of Westmount, Que., in the third round on Thursday. Canadian Press