Cincinnati Open: Garbine Muguruza thrashes Simona Halep in final
Romania’s Simona Halep missed out on a chance to become the new world number one after being thrashed by Garbine Muguruza in the Cincinnati Open final.
Halep, 25, lost to the Wimbledon champion 6-1 6-0 in just 57 minutes.
A win would have seen world number two Halep replace Karolina Pliskova at the top of the rankings.
Britain’s Jamie Murray and Brazilian Bruno Soares lost their men’s doubles final to the French fifth seeds Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert.
Murray and Soares were beaten 7-6 (8-6) 6-4 in one hour and 37 minutes.
The third seeds, who lost in the second round at Wimbledon, had not dropped a set leading up the final in Cincinnati.
‘I am sorry for this match’
It was an emphatic performance from Muguruza before the US Open, which starts on 28 August.
After beating Britain’s Johanna Konta in the semi-final, Halep hit 20 unforced errors and struggled to find any rhythm.
“I played so bad today and she played so well. I am sorry for this match,” she said.
Nick Kyrgios and Grigor Dimitrov will meet in the men’s final later on Sunday.