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World number three and top seed Simona Halep of Romania on Friday advanced to the women's singles final of the 916,131-USD Qatar Total Open tennis tournament after defeating Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, world number seven, 6-3 3-6 6-4, as she was led 4-1 in the deciding set.
Their head-to-head count is now a 4-4 tie, after Svitolina won the previous three matches, most recently 6-0 6-4 at the 2018 Italian Open women's singles.
Halep, who on Monday will shoot to number two in the WTA singles ranking, scored an ace, double faulted twice, and had a mediocre serve. Svitolina managed two aces, double faulted three times, had more direct winners (30-24) and less unforced errors (35-37).
In the final, Halep, the 2014 Qatar Open semi-finalist and the 2018 runner-up, will play the winner between Germany's Angelique Kerber and Belgian Elise Mertens. For her performance in the tournament, Halep has won 84,850 US dollars and 305 WTA singles points.
