(Rank/Seed)
18/5 Halep defeated (19/7) Stosur 76(1) 62 to claim the Kremlin Cup in Moscow, her 5th title of the year in as many finals played. Only Williams has won more titles this year!
Halep took advantage of a field which saw a mass exodus of top 10 players in light of their recent qualification for the WTA Championships. Errani, Kvitova, Jankovic and Kerber all pulled out just before the tournament got underway. Halep dropped a mere 7 games in besting Rybarikova 62 retired, Kleybanova 61 61 and Pavlyuchenkova 62 61 en route to the final in only her second appearance here, having lost in last year's second round.
Stosur came in fresh off a second title of the year in Osaka last week, the first time in her career she'd ever won at least a couple of titles in one year. She extended her winning streak to 9 matches in beating tough former top 20 players Kanepi 63 61, Cornet 64 61 and former Grand Slam champions (14/4) Ivanovic 75 64 and Kuznetsova 62 64. Having just missed out in the final last year and leading Halep 3-1 in their head to head, she was the favourite.
1st Set
Halep's early break advantage didn't last long as Stosur levelled at 3-3. From there, neither player broke serve. Halep was generally dictating the play, often hitting behind Stosur to her backhand and was returning superbly. However, Stosur played fabulously on break points, saving 12 of them going into the tiebreak. Suddenly though, Stosur had a lapse of concentration and Halep took advantage as she dominated the breaker, putting all of Stosur's hard work to stay in the set to waste.
2nd Set
Though Stosur managed to break in the first game, she appeared dejected as Halep broke back before forging into a 4-1 lead. Halep's backhand down the line was particularly lethal and Stosur ran out of answers. Halep beat Stosur for the 2nd time this year, following her win in Cincinnati and has won a title on all 4 surfaces this year; clay, grass, outdoor and indoor hard.
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