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Former world No.1 Simona Halep has crushed Elina Svitolina in straight sets to reach her first Wimbledon final.
Resurgent seventh seed Simona Halep has advanced to her maiden Wimbledon final with a crushing straight-sets win over Elina Svitolina.
Romania's former world No.1 passed her first major test of the tournament with a steely 6-1 6-3 semi-final victory over eighth-seeded Svitolina on Thursday.
Halep will play either seven-times champion Serena Williams or unseeded Czech Barbora Strycova in Saturday's championship decider.
The 27-year-old will be chasing her second grand slam title, having won last year's French Open following finals losses in Paris in 2014 and 2017 as well as a runner-up finish at the 2018 Australian Open.
Halep hadn't faced a seed on her way to the last four and had lost four of her previous seven meetings with Svitolina, the first Ukrainian to make a women's grand slam semi-final.
But after needing 43 minutes to win the most competitive seven-game opening set of the tournament, Halep retained her cool to seal victory with two more service breaks in the second set.
"It's an amazing feeling. I'm really excite and also nervous to be in the final. It's one of the best moments of my life," Halep said.
"I'm playing to enjoy it as much as possible and also to play through to the final.
"It was not as easy as the score shows. She's an amazing player and always a difficult opponent.
"I fought feally hard to win the match. I think I played the right tactics - I was very strong mentally and physically."
A loser of her first three grand slam finals, Halep had carried a reputation as temperamental and not strong enough in the mind to win tennis's biggest prizes.
But she's now playing with a new-found freedom after finally breaking through last year in Paris.
"I'm not giving up," Halep said.
"I'm trying to be my best version of myself and I fight to win until the very last point because I want to win every match."
Halep leads Strycova 2-0 head-to-head and trails Williams 5-1, but said she wasn't fussed who she played for the title.
