Swiss tennis player Belinda Bencic won the Rogers Cup title on Sunday after Romanian Simona Halep retired in the third set due to injury. The final score was 7-6(5), 6-7(4), 3-0.

Belinda Bencic reached the Rogers Cup final after beating world’s number 1 Serena Williams in the semifinal.

For Romanian Simona Halep, this was the first WTA final after a series of bad results at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, where she was eliminated in the early stages. She reached the final in Toronto after beating Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska in the quarterfinals and Italy's Sara Errani in the semifinals.

Halep, 23, got a cash prize of USD 227,640 and 585 WTA points for playing in the final, while Bencic, 18, got USD 456,000 and 900 WTA points.

“Sorry I couldn’t finish, I fought as hard as I could. Thanks to all the fans for the support,” Halep said in a Twitter post.

Both Halep and Bencic will play this week in Cincinnati, at Western and Southern Open (August 17-23). The tournament has total money prizes of USD 2.4 million.

Simona Halep (5,546 points) ranks third in the WTA ranking, after American Serena Williams (11,821 points) and Russian Maria Sharapova (6,036 points). Belinda Bencic is now at number 12 in the ranking, with 2,960 points, up from 20th place.

Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, among the world’s best-paid female athletes. 

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com