Halep moves to No. 1, Nadal vs. Kyrgios in final

Simona Halep will take over the top ranking after reaching the China Open final in Beijing, and Rafael Nadal will play Nick Kyrgios for the men’s title.

Halep beat French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko 6-2, 6-4, ensuring that when the WTA rankings are updated on Monday she will be the first women’s No. 1 from Romania.

Halep could have reached No. 1 earlier but was upset in the French Open final by Ostapenko in their first career meeting.

“Of course it’s the best moment in my life, and I want just to keep it,” Halep said in Silver medallist Elena Eremina of Russia performs her routine on the uneven bars during the women’s individual apparatus finals at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championship in Montreal.

Beijing. “And I have a few more dreams in my career. I tell you one, only one. To win a Grand Slam.”

Halep only had to reach the final this week — and not lose to Elina Svitolina of Ukraine in the final — to knock Garbine Muguruza from the top spot. Muguruza retired during her opening match on Monday because of a cold.

Top-seeded Nadal defeated third-seeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 in the semifinals, his tour-leading 60th match win.Dimitrov’s only victory against the Spaniard in 10 matches came last year in the China Open quarterfinals. On Saturday, his backhand cross-court winner secured the second set,

on a second set point, on Nadal’s serve in the 10th game.

But Nadal took immediate control of the third set, racing to 4-0.

Kyrgios didn’t drop his serve in ousting second-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany 6-3, 7-5 in the other semi. The Australian had an impressive 70 percent first-serve percentage and posted 11 aces to none for Zverev, who is normally known for his serving prowess.

Nadal and Kyrgios are tied at two matches apiece in their head-to-head, but the Australian won their latest outing in August in straight sets in the Cincinnati quarterfinals.

5 GAMES OUT