Cincinnati WTA Premier 5 Final Preview: Simona Halep vs. Kiki Bertens

Bag Check—Agnieszka Radwanska:

Halep and Bertens have played four times, and Halep has won three of those matches. That includes their only two meetings in the last six years, at Wimbledon in 2016 and in Rome in 2017.

Bertens, of course, is a very different player from the one she was then; she’s a very different player from the one she was a month ago. In that time, this 26-year-old clay-court specialist has branched out, reaching the quarterfinals on grass at Wimbledon, the quarters on hard courts in Montreal and now the final on hard courts in Cincinnati. During that span, Bertens has beaten Venus Williams, Karolina Pliskova, Caroline Wozniacki, Elina Svitolina and, on two occasions, Petra Kvitova.

The only problem is that Halep, having won the title in Montreal and recently won the French Open, is on an even better run than Bertens. Because of rain, Halep has spent the last two weeks playing late at night, twice a day, and on side courts where world No. 1s are rarely forced to trod. But surviving all of that only seems to have helped her find a deep groove of confidence.

Winner: Halep

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