By Richard Pagliaro | Friday, August 14, 2015
Simona Halep lost seven straight games at the start before reeling off eight consecutive games to defeat defending champion Agniezka Radwanska, 0-6, 6-3, 6-1, and reach the Toronto semifinals.
Photo credit: Phillip Sutherland/corleve
Blown out in the opening set, Simona Halep trudged behind the baseline muttering in frustration. Halep was spinning her wheels stuck on a losing track dropping seven straight games to Agnieszka Radwanska at the start of this Toronto quarterfinal.
Just when Halep's hopes of a comeback looked like road kill, she got a jump start to spark a rousing reversal.
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Fans waving Romanian flags and chanting her name roused Halep into action. The second seed cleaned up her act, cut down the errors and proceeded to run Radwanska right out of the Rogers Cup.
Halep won nine of the last 10 games, including eight in a row at one stretch, defeating the defending champion, 0-6, 6-3, 6-1, to notch her 300th career victory and roar into her first semifinal since she reached the final four on the red clay of Rome last May.
Halep will next play 15th-seeded Italian Sara Errani in Saturday's semifinals. Errani shuttled past qualifier Lesia Tsurenko, 6-4, 6-4, to reach her first career Rogers Cup semifinal. Halep leads the Italian 2-1 in the head-to-head but the pair have split their two previous hard-court encounters.
"I needed [the fan support] because sometimes you have no power to fight to win the match," Halep told ESPN's Rennae Stubbs after the match. "First set, I was down 0-5 and they were supporting me like I had 5-0 [lead]. I want to thank everyone for supporting us."
Radwanska played almost immaculate tennis in the lopsided opening set, losing just five points on serve and breaking serve three times serving up the shutout set.
Weary from her 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 victory over Stanford champion Angelique Kerber in the prior round, Halep gained a second wind in the second set. At 3-all in the second set, the 2014 French Open finalist began hitting with more depth and moved up closer to the baseline to take the first strike in rallies. She won three games in a row to force the deciding set as Radwanska began lunging for shots looking leg-weary.
The Radwanska forehand let her down again as Halep drew forehand into net breaking for a 2-0 lead after one hour, 23 minutes of play. A bold twisting second serve that danced near the sideline saved break point in the third game. Halep eventually held, extending her lead to 3-0. When Halep broke again for 4-0 — her seventh straight game — pro-Halep supports erupted in chants of "See-Mona!" See-Mona!"
"It was a tough match. She played an amazing first set," Halep told Stubbs afterward. "I couldn't move my legs first set. I was a little bit tired, but then I kept focusing on what I had to do. I changed a little bit of tactics. I just wanted to make her run more...and no mistakes, I did too many mistakes in the first set."
Completely in command, Halep planted a backhand winner down the line holding for 5-0. Hostility at her predicament provoked one of the most aggressive Radwanska service games in recent memory. The sixth seed snapped off three aces in denying the bagel for 1-5. Halep closed in the next game, flinging her Wilson racquet aside in joy transforming deflation into elation.
She wasn't planning on celebrating too long, however.
"I need a massage now," the wild card said. "I have to to relax now and in my legs because I feel pain everywhere. And maybe [an] ice bath."