The world No.3 Halep moved into the Madrid final for the fourth time in her career, maintaining a perfect record in the semifinals of the tournament by beating Belinda Bencic 6-2 6-7(2) 6-0 on Friday. If Halep clinches the title, she’ll overtake Naomi Osaka at the top of the rankings.
After avenging her 2018 final loss to Petra Kvitova in yesterday’s quarterfinals, the seventh-seeded Bertens saved eight out of nine break points in the semis against eighth seed Sloane Stephens and fought off three set points in the second set to win 6-2 7-5 in one hour and 29 minutes.