Halep beats Gauff to reach Toronto semis

Simona Halep
Romania's Simona Halep is through to the semi-finals of the Canadian Open after beating Coco Gauff. -AP

Two-time champion Simona Halep has beaten Coco Gauff in straight sets to reach the semi-finals of the Canadian Open.

The 30-year-old from Romania, who won the event in Montreal in 2016 and 2018, beat the young American 6-4 7-6 (7-2) on Friday. 

Halep will now face seventh-seed Jessica Pegula, who beat Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva in a straight-forward 6-3 6-3 win. 

The 15th-seeded Halep is now 4-0 against Gauff, the 18-year-old who was seeded 10th.

"I'm really pleased with the way I stayed there strong mentally," said Halep, after reaching her 29th career semi-final at a WTA 1000 event - more than any other player.

"And I fought for every point which was really important because she's doing the same thing. Mentally I'm strong even if I struggled a little bit in the second set."

In the night session, 12th-seeded Swiss Belinda Bencic takes on Brazil's Beatriz Haddad Maia while 14th-seed Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic meets China's Zheng Qinwen.