Halep, Nadal Rogers Cup champs
MONTREAL — Simona Halep had just enough energy left to claim a second women’s Rogers Cup title.
The world’s top-ranked player defeated third-seeded Sloane Stephens 7-6 (6), 3-6, 6-4 in a see-saw battle that featured 15 service breaks — eight for Stephens, seven for Halep — at a steaming hot IGA Stadium on Sunday.
The 26-year-old also won when the event was last held in Montreal, in 2016.
“I couldn’t believe that it’s over,” said Halep after claiming her third title this year and the 18th of her career. “This week, it’s been an amazing effort.
“I was really tired. I feel like these tournaments, at this level, you have to have one day off between the matches. It’s really tough. It’s brutal. This week it was really tough.”
Halep let off steam at the Women’s Tennis Association after her quarter-final Friday for giving her a difficult schedule on a week in which she played twice on the one day due to a rain delay. Her week included a three-hour, seven- minute win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova that was played over two days.
But she then cruised to a twoset victory over Ashleigh Barty in the semifinals and then outlasted Stephens in a thriller that lasted two hours 41 minutes.
It was a repeat of this year’s French Open final in which Halep beat Stephens in three sets, but she said this one was even better.
“Both matches were crazy good,” said Halep. “She makes me play better and better every time we meet each other.
Halep has won her last six meetings with the 25-year-old American. Stephens, the reigning U.S. Open champion, is now 0-8 in matches against No. 1-ranked players.
She gave Halep a stiff challenge.
“I thought I played well, I thought she played well,” said Stephens. “Obviously, in a final, you hope for matches like that — super competitive, high energy.
“There’s nothing more than you could hope for in a final. It’s obviously upsetting that I didn’t win, but I think 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 [Cincinnati] and the U.S. Open.”
Halep took the $519,480 US winner’s prize while Stephens won $252,425.
In Toronto on Sunday, Stefanos Tsitsipas showed flashes of the play that earned him four straight upset wins and a berth in the Rogers Cup final.
But unlike the other top-10 opponents who fell to the rising Greek star, Rafael Nadal showed why he’s the best in the world.
Nadal overcame a late service break and fought off a set point before completing a 6-2, 7-6 (4) victory at Aviva Centre. He converted his first match point of the tiebreaker to win his fifth ATP World Tour title of the season.
Nadal, 32, earned $1.02 million US with the victory. Tsitsipas, who said he drew inspiration from Canadian Denis Shapovalov’s deep run in this event last year, pocketed $500,340.
“[Nadal] never cracks,” Tsitsipas said. “He will always grab you like a bulldog and he will always make you suffer on the court.”
It was Nadal’s 33rd career ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crown. He improved to 4-0 in Rogers Cup final appearances.
Tsitsipas, who was playing his first career Masters 1000 final, had no real answer for the world No. 1 in front of a near-sellout crowd on a warm, sunny afternoon.
Nadal was steady and effective, using punishing groundstrokes to work Tsitsipas around the court.
The Greek youngster, who turned 20 on Sunday, appeared flummoxed at times and never really found his rhythm.
Tsitsipas finally got a break to tie it at 5-5 and was a point away from forcing a third set before Nadal returned to form.
“I’m very happy to have this trophy with me again,” Nadal said. “It means a lot. It has been a fantastic week, a very positive one.”
Nadal, who won their only previous meeting in the Barcelona final earlier this season, earned his 80th career title.