Heat, humidity combine to harpoon Halep

Swiss teen Belinda Bencic outlasted Simona Halep to win Sunday's WTA Rogers Cup final when the Romanian second seed retired trailing 7-6 (5), 6-7 (4), 3-0.

Bencic, who upset world No 1 Serena Williams in the semifinals, broke twice to open the third set before the effort of battling in extreme heat and humidity proved more than Halep could take.

The 18-year-old Swiss has won 21 of her past 25 matches and defeated four top-10 foes this week, improving to 6-1 this year against such high-ranked rivals.

"I don't think I'm so good at speeches yet," Bencic said. "But first I want to congratulate Simona on a great week, and my mom, my dad and my team.

"Even if I lost today it would've been an amazing experience."

It was the second career WTA crown for Bencic, whose first came in June at Eastbourne, and it capped an impressive week in which she defeated six Grand Slam finalists - Eugenie Bouchard, Caroline Wozniacki, Sabine Lisicki, Ana Ivanovic, Halep and Williams, winner of the past four Grand Slam events in a row.

Agence France-Presse

(China Daily 08/18/2015 page23)