Halep wins women's crown at Mutua Madrid Open

Simona Halep won the Mutua Madrid Tennis Open on Saturday after defeating Dominika Cibukova 6-2, 6-4 in the final of the women' s competition.

Halep had been the only seeded player to make it into the semi-finals in a tournament full of surprises and which started without the suspended Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams, who withdrew as the result of a case of flu.

Early rounds saw top seeds crash out one after the other with number one seed Agnieszka Radwanska, who lost to Cibukova, number two seed Ann Kerber and number three seed, Gabine Muguruza all falling in the first round to open up the draw.

Haleb maintained her calm and made steady progress to the final, dropping just one set on her way to lifting the title and on Saturday she was simply too good for Cibukova, who put up resistance in the first set missed her chances.

The main difference in the first set was that Halep took her two break chances, while Cibukova, who has won three out of four previous meetings missed hers.

Perhaps the fact the Slovakian had spent 4 hours more on court that Halep was a factor in the second set explained why she had no response in the second set as Halep ran out an easy winner.

Earlier in the day defending men' s champion, Andy Murray booked his place in Sunday' s final after defeating Rafael Nadal 7-5, 6-4 in a game where he calm in key moments of the match coupled with his powerful serve proved to be decisive.