Romania's Simona Halep reaches her second final in two weeks, loses to Serena Williams

Romanian tennis star Simona Halep reached the final of the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati last week, after playing the Rogers Cup final in Toronto one week before. Although she lost her final match against WTA number one Serena Williams on Sunday, she moved up to the second place in the WTA ranking, ahead of the US Open, which starts next week (August 31). Halep had a good run in Cincinnati, and after a hard match against France’s Kristina Mladenovic, she defeated Germany’s Adrea Petkovic, Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic in her way to the 19th final of her career. Serena Williams was in top shape in the final and won in two sets, ended 6-3, 7-6, gaining her sixth victory over Halep. However, the Romanian showed an improved physical and mental shape, after her bad results in Roland Garros and Wimbledon, and is one of the favorites of the US Open. Simona Halep decided to withdraw from the Connecticut Open in New Haven this week to recover for the US Open. Swiss Bencic wins Rogers Cup final after Romania’s Halep retires in third set editor@romania-insider.com