Halep dominates Venus to end long day at Rogers Cup

MONTREAL: Top seed Simona Halep made quick work of Venus Williams 6-2 6-2 on Thursday to end a long day at the Rogers Cup that saw her advancing to the quarter-fi nals.

Halep had to grind out a 7- 6( 9) 4- 6 7-5 win over Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova earlier in the day, completing a match that began Wednesday but was halted due to rain.

Pavlyuchenkova, ranked 28th, took leads of 2- 0 and 4- 2 in the third set but was unable to fi nish off Halep, who won three games in a row to seize a 5- 4 advantage and eventually went on to break Pavlyuchenkova for match point in the 12th game.

“It was a great match, a great fight. She played unbelievable and was fi ghting until the end,” Halep told reporters in an on-court interview.

Against Williams, the 26-yearold Romanian saved the only break point she faced in the 74-minute match, and she converted five of her nine break opportunities.

Second seed Dane Caroline Wozniacki went down in her fi rst match of the tournament, losing 5-7 6-2 7- 6(4) to Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus.

Wozniacki was coming off a disappointing second round loss at Wimbledon and could not turn things around.

Great Britain’s Johanna Konta was also forced to complete a pair of matches on Thursday. She fi nished off Belarus’ Victoria Azarenka 6- 3 6-1 but lost later to fifth seed Ukrainian Elina Svitolina 6- 3 6- 4.

“She was mentally more warmed up going into the match,” Svitolina said.

“That’s what I thought. I was like, ‘C’mon, you have to be ready ( because) she will be straight in the match.’ I think that really helped me.” — Reuters