Simona Halep of Romania celebrates her victory over Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia during day five of the Rogers Cup at Uniprix Stadium on July 29, 2016 in Montreal.Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images
Any concerns about Angelique Kerber's left elbow have been put to rest at the $2.4-million (U.S.) women's Rogers Cup.
The second seed from Germany advanced to the semi-finals on Friday with a thorough 6-2, 6-2 victory over unseeded Russian Daria Kasatkina to reach the final four without a twinge from the elbow that forced her to withdraw from a match last week in Sweden and that put her Rogers Cup participation in doubt.
"My elbow is feeling much better," Kerber said. "I had a lot of treatments when I came here.
"It's actually better from match to match. I'm not feeling it any more. Hopefully it will stay like this."
She'll need it in the semi-finals on Saturday, where she will face fifth-seeded Simona Halep of Romania, who recovered from a slow start to defeat Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia 3-6, 6-1, 6-1.
Kerber and Halep, the top two players left in the tournament, have met five times. Halep won the first three, all on hard courts like the one at Uniprix Stadium. Kerber won the next two, both this year, but one was on a clay court in Federation Cup play and the other was on grass in the quarter-finals at Wimbledon.
To add some spice, Kerber is left-handed while Halep swings with the right.
"Every match we played against each other was really close," said Kerber, 28, the reigning Australian Open champion. "I think it'll depend on the day.
"We both are really tough players. We are both moving really good. I think it will be just another match against her where I know I have to play my best tennis, being aggressive, having a lot of patience against her and, yeah, trying of course to beat her again."
Kerber needed exactly one hour to oust Kasatkina from her first Rogers Cup appearance, although the 19-year-old had a good week beating 13th seeded Samantha Stosur and seventh seeded Italian Roberta Vinci.
Halep got to the semi-finals for a second year in a row. Last year in Toronto, the 24-year-old reached the final, but lost to Belinda Bencic after retiring in the third set with an illness.
The ninth-seeded Kuznetsova's frustration was evident on centre court when, after dominating the opening set, Halep turned the tables. Halep is coming off a win on clay in her home tournament in Bucharest two weeks ago.
"I'm really looking forward to playing against Simona again," said Kerber, who is in her first Rogers Cup semi-final. "We had a lot of tough matches in the last few months, and always long ones.
"I know the match will have a lot of long rallies. I think I'm ready for it."
In a quarter-finals later Friday, Madison Keys beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-6 (3), 1-6, 6-0 and Johanna Konta faced Kristina Kucova, the Slovak qualifier who ousted Genie Bouchard of Westmount, Que., in the third round on Thursday.