After heat illness forced her to retire from last year's Coupe Rogers final, Romanian fifth seed Simona Halep went one step further this year, avenging her loss in the 2015 final to take her first Montreal crown with a 7-6(2), 6-3 victory over American Madison Keys in the title match.
Halep, who struggled on serve much of the first set, played an impressive tiebreak to seal the opening set, spurring her on to a comprehensive second set to seal the crown. The Romanian now owns titles in Madrid, Bucharest, and Montreal this year as the 24-year-old looks ahead to the final major of the season, the US Open, in late August.
Halep struggles on serve but eventually breaks through in opening set tiebreak
In a set filled with service breaks, it was only fitting Halep and Keys began the match exchanging breaks, with both players looking slightly nervous early on. The pair then each took holds of serve for 2-all before the Romanian took the early lead with a break of her own to go up. Halep then consolidated the break for a 4-2 lead, before letting two break points for 5-2 fall by the wayside, with Keys holding on for 4-3.
The fifth-seeded Halep then let the disappointment of wasted break chances from the last game haunt her, giving up the break to level the set at 4-all. The former French Open finalist rebounded well, however, keeping the topsy-turvy nature of the set going with another break of Keys' serve to go up 5-4 and give herself the chance to serve for the opening set.
With the opening set in her grasp, Halep struggled serving the set out, getting broken to love to gift the advantage right back to her American opponent for 5-all. Keys, who is appearing in her third final this year, lost her serve for the second straight game to once again give Halep the chance to serve it out with errors coming from all over the American's game.
Keys then held tough to stay in, breaking her more-experienced opponent's serve to level the set at six games apiece and force a tiebreak.
In the breaker, it was Halep with the mental edge, showing the resolve and fortitude to go out to an early 4-1 lead. With two mini-breaks in hand, the Romanian played two impressive points on serve to go up 6-1 and bring up five set points. Down set point, Keys fought on, saving one before surrendering the opening set 7-6, 7-2 in the tiebreak, to put the fifth seed a set from a first Coupe Rogers title.
One break enough for Halep to take second set, seal first Montreal title
With the first set in pocket, Halep, spurred on by the boisterous Romanian support and first set success, raced out to an early lead, holding in the opening game of the set before breaking the American's serve to go up 2-0. The pair then exchanged holds of serve twice for 4-2, before a solid service game sealed a 5-2 lead for the fifth-seeded Romanian.
Serving to stay in the match, Keys handled the pressure well, taking care of her serve to stay alive and force last year's finalist to serve out the title. This time around, Halep went one step further, taking the match on her first time of asking to seal a first Coupe Rogers title 7-6, 6-3 and a first place spot in the Emirates Airline US Open Series ahead of the final major of the season, the US Open, later this summer.
