Simona Halep will play the final of the Transylvania Open tournament against Anett Kontaveit

Simona Halep qualified for the final of the Transylvania Open WTA 250 tournament, held in Cluj-Napoca, after clearly defeating ukrainian Marta Kostiuk 6-0, 6-1, Agerpres reports.

Simona Halep, the 18th ranked WTA, passed Marta Kostiuk in just 62 minutes and will face Estonian Anett Kontaveit in the final. The match against Kostiuk, the 55th ranked WTA, was a historyless one, the only ball of the Ukrainian being obtained in the beginning of the second set.

Kostiuk called for a medical timeout in the first set, at 3-0, due to a problem with his right thigh.

Halep finished with an excellent percentage on points with the first innings, 92%, saving the Ukrainian’s only break ball. The former world leader’s dominance was also seen in the total number of points, with Halep gathering twice as many as his opponent (60-31).

Simona Halep finished with 10 winners and Kostiuk with 11, but the Ukrainian had a lot of unforced errors, 38-12.

The two also met at the beginning of the month in the second round at Indian Wells, with Halep winning 7-6 (2), 6-1.

Kontaveit, the 14th ranked WTA who is in the race to qualify for the Tournament of Champions, secured his ninth consecutive victory on Saturday after winning the title in Moscow last weekend. The Estonian was beated 6-3, 6-2 by Sweden’s Rebecca Peterson in the first semifinal.

Halep defeated Kontaveit in all three previous clashes, 6-3, 6-0 in the third round at Miami in 2017, 6-2, 6-4 in the quarterfinals in Rome in 2017 and 6-1, 6-1 in the quarterfinals at the Australian Open in 2020. None of the finalists lost a set in Cluj-Napoca.

For Halep this is the first final of this year and the 40th of his career (22 titles). Halep secured a check for $ 16,398 and 180 WTA points at the Transylvania Open WTA 250, with total prize money of $ 235,238.