Simona Halep battles past Lesia Tsurenko to move into Cincinnati semis

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Simona Halep celebrates

World number one Simona Halep has booked her place in the Cincinnati semi-finals, but she had to win two matches on Friday to do it.

The Romanian started the day on court against Ashley Barty on a holdover from Thursday after rain played havoc with the schedules.

It proved to be a very routine win for Halep too, as she breezed to a 7-5 6-4 win in which she wasn’t really required to find top gear.

That win set-up a quarter-final clash against Ukranian Lesia Tsurenko later in the evening, and that proved to be much more of a test for Halep.

Halep found herself 1-4 0-40 down in the first set, but somehow rallied to win 6-4 6-1 ion a remarkable turnaround.

“I think I changed the game, I lost the first games without really thinking,” she said after the match.

“To play two matches in the same day and to win both of them, I’m really happy.

“For everybody it was the same, it was a tough day, but I’ll not complain.”

She’ll now face Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in the last four after she overcame Madison Keys 6-3 6-4.

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