World number one Simona Halep will play Kiki Bertens in the Cincinnati Masters final after easing past Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals.

Halep, 26, beat the Belarusian 6-3 6-4 to reach her second final in as many weeks.

Earlier in the day, Bertens, 26, defeated two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova for the second week in a row, winning 3-6 6-4 6-2.

“I know it is going to be a big challenge in the final,” said Halep.

The Romanian – who won the Rogers Cup in Montreal, Canada, last week – has reached the Cincinnati final on two previous occasions but never won.

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She broke early against Sabalenka, who beat three top 20 players en route to the last four, before breaking her opponent’s serve twice more to seal the opening set.

The top seed had to deny three break points in the second set as Sabalenka levelled at 4-4 but Halep progressed through to the final on her second match point.

“It was a tough match. She was serving big – it was 110mph every time,” said Halep.

“I was pretty strong and I just wanted to make her move as much as possible. I think I won this match because I was fighting until the end.”

Dutch player Bertens reached her third final of the season in defeating Czech world number six Kvitova, who she beat in the Rogers Cup third round in Montreal last week.

The world number 17 won the semi-final on her first match point, and victory on Sunday would mark only her second career title.

“It was a tough match, but I’m so glad to be in the final,” said Bertens.

“Over the last 12 months I’ve improved. We’ve put in a lot of work to get me more fit, to play more aggressively.

“It’s working out, I’m going for my shots and serves and keeping my nerves calm.”

Former world number one Novak Djokovic reached the Cincinnati Masters final for the sixth time with a semi-final victory over Marin Cilic.

Djokovic, who has never won the tournament, beat 2016 winner Cilic 6-4 3-6 6-3 in two and a half hours.

The Serb, seeded 10th, will play the winner of Saturday’s second semi-final between Roger Federer and David Goffin.

“It’s tough. I’m very pleased to reach the final once more here,” said the 31-year-old Wimbledon champion.

Victory in Sunday’s final would make Djokovic the first man to have won all nine Masters 1,000 tournaments.

“Hopefully I can get it done this time,” Djokovic said.

“It’s been a difficult week with rain delays and all that was happening. I’ve been down in my last three matches but I’ve come back.”

Djokovic won just eight points on his return in the first set of the semi-final, but breaking Cilic’s serve in the third game before twice saving break point gave him the momentum to take the early advantage.

Cilic controlled the second set, taking a 5-1 lead with two breaks before Djokovic momentarily came back into the set, but at 5-3 the Croat held to love to send the match into a decider.

The semi-final swung in Djokovic’s favour then, however, when he broke Cilic’s serve for 5-3 before serving for victory.

Seven-time Cincinnati champion Federer will meet Goffin not before 19:00 local time (00:00 BST).

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World number two Roger Federer won his second game of the day on Friday as he beat Stan Wawrinka to reach the semi-finals of the Cincinnati Masters.

The seven-time champion, who began his day with victory over Leo Mayer, beat fellow Swiss Wawrinka 6-7 (2-7) 7-6 (8-6) 6-2.

The match was interrupted for 21 minutes as the players and crowd left the court during a lightning storm.

“It’s quite unusual to stop for lightning,” Federer said.

“I didn’t know if it meant the end of the night or that we would come back. But I got my energy back for the third set, a momentum shift was good for me.”

After the interruption, Federer secured the first break of the match to take a 4-2 lead and closed out victory for a 23rd victory in 26 meetings with Wawrinka.

The 37-year-old will face David Goffin in the final four after the Belgian beat Argentine Juan Martin del Potro 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-4).

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Elsewhere, former world number one Novak Djokovic also won his second match of the day to set up a semi-final with Croat Marin Cilic.

The Serb followed up a third-round victory over holder Grigor Dimitrov earlier in the day with a 7-5 4-6 6-3 victory over Canadian Milos Raonic.

Djokovic, a five-time finalist in Cincinnati, is aiming to lift the trophy at the sole Masters 1,000 series event he has never won.

Cilic secured his semi-final place by defeating Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta 7-6 (9-7) 6-4.

Meanwhile, women’s top seed Simona Halep recovered from 4-1 down in the opening set to beat Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine 6-4 6-1.

It was the second fightback of the day for Halep, who came from a break down in each set to overhaul Australian 16th seed Ashleigh Barty in the third round.

She will face rising 20-year-old Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, who upset Madison Keys of the United States 6-3 6-4.

Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova also reached the final four with victory over Belgian Elise Mertens 7-5 5-7 6-3.

The Czech will face Kiki Bertens after the Dutchwoman defeated Ukrainian fifth seed Elina Svitolina 6-4 6-3.