Cincinnati Open: Grigor Dimitrov wins first Masters, Garbine Muguruza defeats Simona Halep

The Romanian took advantage of a wayward Stephens to progress comfortably to the Cincinnati final where she will face Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza. “It felt great. I moved very well today”. Hopefully I can do it.

Halep said: “It’s tough to analyse anymore about this thing”.

“But I am so close”.

The new no. 9 success of the world one week and a final nearly flawless: he has not lost a single round to ” Cincy”, and outperformed in the final, Nick Kyrgios, beat them 6-3, 7-5.

John Isner beat Frances Tiafoe 7-6 (4), 7-5 in an afternoon match delayed twice by rain. The 22-year-old Australian tossed in three double-faults in that game alone-having previously doubled only once-as Dimitrov broke for 6-5. During the back-and-forth trial of the fourth game in the second set on Sunday, Muguruza survived some of Halep’s best shots, shrugged off her own mistakes and finally sprinted away with the match.

“Maybe tomorrow (Sunday) is my turn”.

But after as a second Grand Slam, she’s got a new attitude. “It’s a big challenge”.

However, Muguruza, who is ranked No. 6, did not have her serve broken the entire match.

“We must not believe that because I won here, I’m going to win the US Open, the majors are completely different”, she warned.

“I really don’t know. If not tomorrow, maybe next weeks”, she said. “I hope so. But, no, it’s not here yet like that”.

“All I want is to win the tournaments”, she added.

In the men’s final, Kyrgios will be chasing his first title of the year after a hard-fought victory over stubborn Spaniard Ferrer. She is 8-2 on hard courts this summer and is contesting her first non-Slam final since winning the 2015 China Open. Germany’s Angelique Kerber and Pliskova have held the spot since.

The third set was tied 2-2 when the first storm moved through the area in the afternoon, causing a almost two-hour delay. “My record in tie-breakers is pretty good”, Kyrgios said. I’m just going to go out there and be calm and play as freely as I can.

She wasted little time establishing control of the match with her 6-1 first-set win-the first set Halep lost throughout the entire tournament-and maintained her momentum with a quick start in the second.

“The difference was he was a lot more decisive at the big moments”, Isner said. “I was like, “I know this guy’s fitter than me”.

“I’m just sad for the people that were there”. As her head began to drop, especially after failing to break at 0-3 down in a long game with her only break point opportunities of the match, it really became a foregone conclusion.

With the win, the 23-year-old snapped a six-match losing streak against the current world No. 1, and reached her first final since Wimbledon last month. “But I have to kind of block it for two hours”. “I managed, don’t lose the courage, and I turned (it) around”, Muguruza said.