Simona Halep won the strongly occupied WTA tournament in Toronto on Sunday evening. The 15th-seeded Romanian was too strong for Beatriz Haddad Maia from Brazil in the final battle: 6-3, 2-6 and 6-3.
Thirty-year-old Halep has won the tournament twice before, in 2016 and 2018. Only Monica Seles and Chris Evert (both four times) have won the Canadian tournament more often than the former number one in the world.
Thanks to this new title, Halep rises from fifteenth to sixth place in the world ranking. She was last in the top ten just over a year ago.
For 26-year-old Haddad Maia, the defeat ended a great series. The Brazilian started the year as number 82 in the world. After victories at the Nottingham and Birmingham grass tournaments in June and her performance in Toronto, she now enters the top twenty.
Haddad Maia is currently the world number 24. She won in Toronto against Iga Swiatek, the Polish number one in the world, and Olympic champion Belinda Bencic from Switzerland.