DUBAI — Top-seeded Simona Halep earned the tenth title of her career and made herself a double champion in the Arabian Gulf by capturing the Dubai Open with a tenacious and skilful 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) win over Karolina Pliskova Saturday. In the semifinal Friday, Halepknocked out Caroline Wozniacki 2-6, 6-1, 6-1. The Romanian will defend the Doha title next week after proving too mobile and tactically too flexible for the 22-year-old Pliskova, who has served the most aces on the WTA Tour this year — now 149 — but missed two break point chances early on. They proved costly. Halep, who had shown herself a great fighter by coming back from close to defeat to Ekaterina Makarova in the quarterfinals, took nine points in a row to snatch the first set. She recovered from a break down in the second, and overcame the disappointment of missing a match point in both the 10th and 12th games, eventually closing it out in from 3-4 down in the tie-break. Monfils to take on Simon Local favorite Gael Monfils maintained his perfect record against fourth-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut to reach the final of the Open 13 where he will meet fellow Frenchman Gilles Simon. The seventh-seeded Monfils put Bautista Agut under pressure with excellent return games to produce an easy 6-4, 6-2 win Saturday. Simon took a slower start against Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine and rallied to a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory after hitting nine aces. In the quarterfinals Friday, second-seeded Stan Wawrinka was knocked out by Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, Bautista Agut defeated Dominic Thiem 7-6 (7), 6-3, Monfils scored a 6-4, 6-4 win over Italian Simone Bolelli and Simon came out on top of an all-French match against Jeremy Chardy 7-5, 7-6 (6). Nadal in semis Top-seeded Rafael Nadal overcame the stiffest test so far in his first clay-court tournament of the season, defeating No. 6 Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay 4-6, 7-5, 6-0 to reach the semifinals of the Rio Open. The match ended at 3:21 in the morning local time Saturday — more than 14 hours after the tournament opened play Friday, as organizers scheduled all five top matches on center court, and they all went to three sets. It's not a record. The ATP says one non-Grand Slam match ended slightly later — 3:24 a.m. in Tokyo in 2006. Nadal will have about 16 hours to rest before he faces No. 4 Fabio Fognini in Saturday's semifinals. In a marathon, Fognini of Italy defeated Federico Delbonis of Argentina 6-4, 6-7 (10), 7-6 (9). In other men's matches, No. 2 David Ferrer advanced to the semifinals, beating Juan Monaco of Argentina 6-3, 4-6, 6-2. He will face Andreas Haider-Maurer of Austria, who won over Joao Souza of Brazil 7-6 (4), 1-6, 6-4. On the women's side, top-seeded Sara Errani of Italy reached the semifinals after Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil retired in the deciding third set. Haddad Maia stopped with the score 3-6, 7-6 (2), 3-0 in Errani's favor. Tournament officials said Haddad Maia withdrew with cramping. Errani will face No. 5 Johanna Larsson of Sweden, who defeated Dinah Pfizenmaier of Germany 6-4, 6-0. Second-seeded Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania made the last four, beating Julie Glushko of Israel 6-1, 6-2. Begu will play No. 6 Anna Schmiedlova of Slovakia. She beat Veronica Cepede Royg 6-3, 6-1. Young topples Dolgopolov In Delray Beach, Donald Young toppled third-seeded Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 Friday to book a semifinal showdown with Australian Bernard Tomic at the ATP Delray Beach Open. Tomic, playing his fourth quarterfinal of the season, ended the run of 19-year-old Japanese qualifier Yoshihito Nishioka 6-3, 6-1. French fifth seed Adrian Mannarino moved a step closer to a first ATP title with a 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 victory over Taiwan's Lu Yen-hsun. Mannarino will face fourth-seeded Croatian Ivo Karlovic, who fired 17 aces in a 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) victory over seventh-seeded American Steve Johnson. — Agencies
