Ruthless Halep marches into Rogers Cup final

Montreal, August 12: Simona Halep marched into the Rogers Cup final with an emphatic straight-sets defeat of Ashleigh Barty.

The world number one took just 70 minutes to move into her third decider in Canada, winning 6-4 6-1 to set up a showdown with Sloane Stephens or Elina Svitolina.

Top seed Halep, who won the tournament in Montreal two years ago, broke twice in the first set and three times in the second to ease through on Saturday (August 11).

The French Open champion was too good for 15th seed Barty in their first encounter, the Australian racking up 37 unforced errors as she was soundly beaten.

Rally of the match!@Simona_Halep has the answer for everything! #CoupeRogers pic.twitter.com/BMKiYQt1gm

— WTA (@WTA) August 11, 2018

Halep made a blistering start, winning four of the opening five games and not allowing Barty to build momentum after she broke for the first time to reduce the deficit to 4-2.

The Romanian did not lose another point in her next two service games, wrapping up the first set impressively.

Barty had no answer to the intensity of Halep as she raced into a 4-0 lead in the second set and broke for a third time to reach another final.