TORONTO, Aug 13 (IANS): Spanish World No. 1 Rafael Nadal defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece while Romania's Simona Halep overcame the tenacious resistance of America's Sloane Stephens in the final of the Rogers Cup here.
Spain's Rafael Nadal celebrating with trophy of the 2018 Rogers Cup at Toronto in Canada on Sunday — Xinhua
It was Nadal's fourth time to win the tourney - and his 80th title overall, a figure attained only by Switzerland's Roger Federer and by Americans Jimmy Connors and Ivan Lendl.
It took Nadal an hour and 43 minutes on Sunday to down his rival 6-2 and 7-6 (4)
Nadal, 32, had lost the first game of the first set, but handily won the next five. And in the second set, the Greek who turned 20 on Sunday battled hard to turn things around, but ultimately fell in a tiebreak.
Romania's Simona Halep holding the trophy after the final match of women's singles against Sloane Stevens of the United States at the 2018 Rogers Cup in Montreal on Sunday — Xinhua
The Spaniard made it to the final after his quarter-finals victory on Friday night over Croatia's seventh-ranked Marin Cilic and his semi-finals win on Saturday over 22-year-old Russian Karen Khachanov, who had routed the Netherlands' Robin Haase 6-3, 6-1 in the quarter-finals.
Earlier on Sunday, Halep overcame Stephens, ranked No. 3, to win the women's Montreal tourney title, which she had won two years ago.
Halep needed three sets -- 7-6(6), 3-6 and 6-4 -- and two hours and 39 minutes to knock off the US player, whom she had defeated in the Roland Garros final two months ago.
Halep, who won the tourney in 2016 after getting to the final but losing in 2015, and being knocked out in the semi-final round last year, added her third title this year - after wins at Shenzhen and Roland Garros - to make 18 career triumphs.
Meanwhile, Stephens, who won in Miami and was a finalist in Paris, seemed to fumble the match each time she managed to gain some measure of control over the flow of play.
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