Reuters
Toronto, August 17: Swiss teenager Belinda Bencic capped a brilliant run to the Rogers Cup title here Sunday when a distressed second seed Simona Halep retired from the final after losing the first three games of the third set. Halep, who had been taking on court treatment from the end of the first set finally retired with the score reading 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (4-7), 3-0 in Bencic’s favour.
Romanian Halep had suddenly become the darling of the crowd when she battled back in the second set braving injury. Bencic was serving for the match at 5-3, but Halep broke back to take the set to a tie-breaker which she won to make it one-set all. But that effort completely drained her in the third set and she retired enabling Bencic win the title.
This was the 18-year-old’s second WTA title after she won the Aegon International on grass in June. Her victory here was all the more memorable because en route to the title she had beaten present World No. 1 Serena Williams and former No. 1s, Caroline Wozniacki and Ana Ivanovic.
“I’m really sorry it had to end like this, I am really sorry for Simona, I hope she will be fine for the next tournament,” said Bencic. “For me it has been an incredible week, I cannot believe it. A win is a win and I had to fight really hard today (Sunday).”