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New Haven - Simona Halep rolled past defending champion Petra Kvitova 6-2, 6-2 on Saturday in the WTA New Haven final, her first hardcourt title coming days before the US Open.
Halep, 21, notched her fourth title of 2013, adding it to claycourt titles won at Nuremberg and Budapest and a grasscourt crown at 's-Hertogenbosch.
She needed just 66 minutes to defeat former Wimbledon champion Kvitova, the third seed, punctuating the triumph with an ace on her first match point.
Halep, who will break into the top 20 in the world next week at 19 in the rankings, is seeded 21st at the US Open, where she'll be trying to translate her recent success to a Grand Slam.
So far this year she has failed to shine on the game's major stages, reaching the second round at Wimbledon and falling in the first round at the Australian Open and Roland Garros.
