'For me it has been an incredible week, I cannot believe it'
'I am really sorry for Simona, I hope she will be fine for the next tournament'
Swiss teenager Belinda Bencic capped a brilliant run to the Rogers Cup title on Sunday when a distressed second seed Simona Halep retired from the final after losing the first three games of the third set.
Bencic needed nearly two hours and 30 minutes on a sweltering centre court to see off a determined Halep 7-6(5), 6-7(4) 3-0 and claim the biggest title of her young career, putting down a marker as a player to watch at the upcoming US Open.
The 18-year-old's Rogers Cup debut was a memorable one as Bencic's drive to the title included a stunning semi-final upset of world number one Williams and two former number ones in fourth seed Caroline Wozniacki and fifth seed 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, the first Swiss woman to reach the final of the Rogers Cup since her mentor Martina Hingis in 2006.
"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."
It was Bencic's second title in two months, following her breakthrough win at the Aegon International on grass in England in June. She arrived in Toronto ranked 20th in the world.
Halep produced a gutsy effort but the Romanian appeared in trouble right from the start as she struggled with the heat and a sore left thigh that required treatment throughout the match, including a medical time out when medical staff checked her blood pressure.
"In the first set I felt a little bit muscle and then it was going to the knee and in the second set I felt bad, like stomach cramps and dizzy and stuff like that," explained Halep. "I was thinking that I need a miracle to finish the match.
"I tried just to finish the match, but at 3-0 I said it is no sense to continue, and I stopped."
Down 5-3 in the second and with Bencic serving for the match, the 23-year-old Halep dug deep into her reserves and forced the set to a tiebreak which she won to thundering applause from the sun-baked crowd.
But the effort to force a third set proved too much.
Trailing 3-0, Halep went to her chair during the changeover and then quickly rose and walked over to Bencic and shook hands, telling her she could not continue.
"I don't know why I continued to play, maybe for the fans," said Halep. "They were like screaming all the time to push me to still play.
"I have no idea why I still played the second set but I did great, and I'm happy that I could find the power to win the second set."
Murray ends drought against Djokovic with Montreal win
Andy Murray ended a long drought against Novak Djokovic when he beat the Serbian 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in a draining final of the Rogers Cup on Sunday.
The British right-hander ended an eight-match, 25-month losing streak against Djokovic and improved from third to second in the world rankings.
He had not beaten the world number one since the 2013 Wimbledon final.
Djokovic, who lost for just the fourth time this year, had won 12 consecutive Masters Series finals since he fell to Roger Federer in Cincinnati in 2012.
Murray and Djokovic embraced at the net after a three-hour battle of attrition that left them exhausted as courtside temperatures reached 40C.
“Everybody wants me and Novak to dislike each other and people always try to stir things up between us,” Murray, 28, said in a courtside interview.
“It’s impossible to be extremely close when we’re playing in these sorts of matches because it’s so mentally challenging and physically demanding and you need to try to still have that competitive edge as well. But it’s not easy, not only because we get on but because he’s bloody good, he’s number one in the world and he hasn’t lost in a Masters Series this year. To win against him is extremely tough.”
Murray made the decisive break in the second game of the final set but it was not all plain sailing after that, as he survived an 18-minute fifth game to hold serve and take a 4-1 lead en route to his third title on the Canadian hardcourts, and first since 2010.
“We’ve played many matches like that, especially in grand slams,” Murray said. “If this was the US Open, we’d have to play another couple of sets like that, which isn’t easy.
“He’s obviously one of the best returners in the world and he obviously has a lot of confidence to stand and fight right to the end, so you have to play right to the end of the match and weather the storms when they come, and I managed to that today.”
The vanquished Djokovic said sub-par serving had cost him the match.
“Andy is deservedly a winner today on the court," he said.
"I thought what made the difference was his serve and my serve. I didn't serve well the first set and a half.
“But not taking anything away from him, from his victory. He deserved it. He stepped in, played some great shots. Most of all the moments when he needed to, he served very, very well."
Hip injury forces Nishikori to skip Cincinnati tournament
Japan's Kei Nishikori has pulled out of next week's ATP 250 tournament in Cincinnati to rest a minor hip injury ahead of the US Open.
The World No 4, who reached the final at Flushing Meadows last year, looked out of sorts in collapsing to a one-sided 6-3, 6-0 semi-final loss to Briton Andy Murray in Montreal on Saturday.
The 25-year-old hard-court specialist, the first Japanese man to reach a grand slam final, said he did not think the injury would curtail his title bid at the US Open which starts in New York on August 31.
"I've never injured that part of the body but I expect to get better in a week," Nishikori said in a statement carried by Kyodo News on Monday.
"I think I'll be able to play well at the US Open."
