Halep to face Stosur for TOC title

Sofia, Bulgaria (SportsNetwork.com) - Simona Halep of Romania and Australia's Samantha Stosur each won semifinal matches Saturday and will meet for the title at the season-ending WTA Tournament of Champions.

Halep rallied for a 2-6, 6-1, 6-3 victory over Ana Ivanovic in the first semifinal and Stosur claimed a 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 triumph over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the second.

The top-seeded Halep struggled in the first set of her match on Saturday, dropping five games in a row at one point, but rebounded to win four straight in a dominant second set.

Ivanovic broke twice in the third to open a 3-0 lead, but Halep again regrouped and won the next six games. She won 25 of the last 32 points.

"I played really well when she had break points to make it 4-1, and I'm really happy with the way I came back in the end," said Halep. "I'm a little bit injured in my leg, but I'm very happy I was able to win today. Now I'm going to rest and recover and I hope to just come back and enjoy the final tomorrow."

Halep will play in her sixth final of 2013 and will try for her sixth title. She had never won a tournament prior to this season.

Sunday's match against Stosur will be a rematch of the Kremlin Cup final from two weeks ago. Halep won that in 7-6 (7-1), 6-2 fashion.

Stosur appeared on her way to an easy match Saturday with a pair of breaks in a dominant first set, but Pavlyuchenkova just as quickly turned the tables with three breaks of serve in the second.

The Russian, though, was unable to pick up a break point in the third and was broken midway through the set for the ultimate difference.

This tournament featured an eight-woman field that was divided into two groups. Round-robin play was staged through Friday.

The field consisted of the six highest-ranked players who won at least one International Series tournament during the year and did not qualify for last week's WTA Championships in Istanbul.