Toronto | Wozniacki reaches her sixth final

Caroline Wozniacki proved too consistent for Sloane Stephens and required just 80-minutes to dispatch the resurgent American 6-2 6-3 to reach her sixth final of the year. Having failed to win any of the previous five, the pressure is on the Dane when she faces Elina Svitolina for the WTA Rogers Cup crown, a player she has yet to beat in two previous meetings.

“I think I was moving very well and retrieving and just trying to stay aggressive when I could. But it was a difficult match. I think it was closer than what the score line showed Caroline Wozniacki

“I had one year where I went to six finals and I won all of them,” Wozniacki remebered. “I guess it’s a give and take sometimes and just that I keep myself in these situations is awesome. I give myself a chance to win and that’s what I’m going to go out and try to do.”

After rain halted play the previous day Garbine Muguruza leading her by a set, Svitolina turned the tables to oust the Wimbledon champion -6 6-4 6-3. The Ukrainian then had a few hours rest before returning to the court to play the second seed and defending champion Simona Halep to trounce her 6-1 6-1.

That win avenged a heart-breaking French Open loss to the Romanian as Svitolina acknowledged. “In Paris it was very difficult to have that loss, but I think it also was the experience,” she said of her collapse to lose a set and 5-1 lead at the French. “So that’s why, from the first point today until the last point, I was very focused and I was just 100% on every ball. I just learned from that experience that you need to play until the last point and just go one point at a time.”

Earlier in day Wozniacki deployed her usual defensive and retrieving game to great advantage to outlast Stephens.

“She was playing really well, I have to say,” Wozniacki, the Canadian champion of 2010, said of the American. “I think she played very powerful, very aggressive, great angles and stuff.

“I think I was moving very well and retrieving and just trying to stay aggressive when I could. But it was a difficult match. I think it was closer than what the score line showed.”

Stephens, who was returning to the fray after a foot injury,wasn’t unhappy with her results which included wins over  Petra Kvitova, Angelique Kerber and Lucie Safarova.