Elbow better, Angelique Kerber reaches Montreal semifinals

MONTREAL (AP) Angelique Kerber put any concerns about her left elbow to rest Friday in the Rogers Cup.

The second-seeded German player advanced to the semifinals with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over unseeded Russian Daria Kasatkina. And Kerber did it without a twinge from the elbow that forced her to withdraw from a match last week in Sweden.

''My elbow is feeling much better,'' Kerber said. ''I had a lot of treatments when I came here. It's actually better from match to match. I'm not feeling it anymore. Hopefully, it will stay like this.''

The Australian Open winner will face fifth-seeded Simona Halep of Romania, a 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 winner over No. 9 Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia.

In night matches, 10th-seeded Madison Keys of the United States faced 16th-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia, and 15th-seeded Johanna Konta of Britain played Slovak qualifier Kristina Kucova. Konta won the Bank of the West Classic last week in California, beating Venus Williams in the final. Keys beat Williams on Thursday night.

Kerber and Halep, the top two players left, have met five times. Halep won the first three, all on hard courts like the one at Uniprix Stadium. Kerber won the next two, both this year - one on a clay court in Federation Cup play and the other on grass in the Wimbledon quarterfinals.

Kerber is left-handed, and Halep swings with the right.

''Every match we played against each other was really close,'' Kerber said. ''I think it'll depend on the day. We both are really tough players. We are both moving really good. I think it will be just another match against her where I know I have to play my best tennis, being aggressive, having a lot of patience against her and, yeah, trying of course to beat her again.''