To defeat American Jessica Pegula 2-6 6-3 6-4 and get to the Canadian Open final in Toronto, Simona Halep overcame some inconsistent serving. On Sunday, she will compete for the title against either Karolina Pliskova or Beatriz Haddad Maia.
At the beginning of the match, Pegula applied pressure to Halep’s serve, and she finished the 35-minute opening set with an ace.
However, a sloppy service game early in the second set, which was culminated by an errant backhand error, gave the Romanian, a two-time Grand Slam champion, a 3-1 lead as her less skilled opponent’s anger levels rose.
Even with 10 double faults and less than 60% of her first serves going into play, Halep broke at love to take a 3-2 lead in the third set and held on to win for her 37th victory of the year. Later on Saturday, the powerful Czech Pliskova and the unseeded Brazilian Haddad Maia compete in their semifinal matches.
