Halep fights off Gauff rally to reach Canadian Open semi-finals

TORONTO : Romania's Simona Halep fought off a late rally from Coco Gauff to secure a nervy 6-4 7-6(2) win on Friday and advance to the Canadian Open semi-finals for a fifth time.

Twice champion Halep, up a set and leading 4-1 in the second, looked headed for an easy passage into the last four.

But Gauff dug in and rallied to force the second set to a tiebreak before 15th-seeded Halep finish off the 10th seed in the tiebreak to maintain her dominance over the American.

In four career meetings, including three this year, Gauff has yet to take a set off Halep, who now awaits either American seventh seed Jessica Pegula or Kazakh Yulia Putintseva.