Kerber, Halep advance to semi-final showdown in Montreal

Montreal, July 30 (IANS) German No. 2 seed Angelique Kerber and Romanian No. 5 seed Simona Halep advanced to the semi-finals of the Rogers Cup in Montreal with victories over Russians Daria Kasatkina and Svetlana Kuznetsova, respectively.

On Friday, Kerber was completely dominant on return, breaking the 19-year-old Kasatkina's serve a whopping seven times in eight chances and more than making up for the three service breaks she suffered in a 6-2, 6-2 victory, reports Efe.

Her opponent in Saturday's semi-finals will be Halep, who overcame a rocky start to record a 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 win over the ninth-seeded Kuznetsova.