Tennis Tennis Simona Halep romps past Barty into Montreal final The World No. 1 defeated Australia’s Ashleigh Barty 6-4, 6-1. AFP Montreal 12 August, 2018 01:02 IST Euphoric: Simona Halep celebrates her victory on Saturday. - AP AFP Montreal 12 August, 2018 01:02 IST World No. 1 Simona Halep powered into the final of the WTA Canada hardcourt tournament on Saturday, cruising past Australia's Ashleigh Barty 6-4, 6-1.Halep, who will now face either US Open winner Sloane Stephens or defending champion Elina Svitolina in Sunday's final, was in control from the outset against a nervous-looking Barty, whose challenge was undone by a string of unforced errors.Barty was in trouble on her opening service game, an error giving French Open champion Halep a break point which she duly converted with a superb backhand crosscourt winner. The next three games went with serve to leave Halep 3-1 up and the 26-year-old then bagged her second break in the fifth game when another Barty error let Halep off the hook to take the game to deuce.Read: Niki Poonacha wins maiden ITF titleA sensational backhand winner down the line gave Halep a break point and when Barty limply returned into the net on the next exchange, she found herself 4-1 down. Barty grabbed a consolation break of serve to make it 4-2, but was unable to claw back another break as Halep took the first set 6-4.One-sidedHalep went for the jugular in the second set, opening with two quick breaks to take a 3-0 lead. Barty offered a flicker of resistance in the fourth game after earning three break points to go to 0-40. But once again Halep's experience came to the fore and she fought back to deuce and saved another break point before holding for 4-0.Both players then held before Halep soon took three match points at 0-40 in the seventh game. Barty fought back to deuce to delay the inevitable before but Halep secured another break to reach her third Canadian final in four years. Subscribe to our daily newsletter Get your daily dose of Sportstar with handpicked stories delivered right to your inbox! SUBSCRIBE Please enter a valid email address. Dugout videos