BREAKING Police investigating shooting outside of Drake's Bridle Path mansion: source
Toronto police are investigating a shooting that took place outside of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion early Tuesday morning, a source tells CP24.
Overcome with frustration, Simona Halep doubled over and started smashing her racket on the hard court at Sobeys Stadium after she missed a return late in the third set of her semifinal.
The two-time champion harnessed that passion to beat Jessica Pegula of the United States 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the National Bank Open's first semifinal on Saturday. The 15th-seeded Halep will face Brazil's Beatriz Haddad Maia in Sunday's final.
Haddad Maia beat Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 7-6 (9) in the late semifinal to reach a WTA Masters event final for the first time.
Halep said that destroying her racket shows that she's herself again.
"The fire is back," said a smiling Halep. "It's a good sign if I do that. It looks like I'm fighting. It helps me sometimes. I don't know if it's always good or not, but it helps me."
Halep started her season with a victory at the Melbourne Summer Set 1. Although it was the 23rd title of her career, it was the first since 2020. In early April she announced she would begin working with coach Patrick Mouratoglou.
She said that Mouratoglou's influence has rekindled her passion for tennis.
"The person next to us. Patrick. He brought it," said Halep, gesturing toward Mouratoglou. She said that training at his tennis school in the French Riviera has been inspirational.
"The vibe from the academy gave me the energy. To see all those kids fighting every day to touch the dream that they have — I felt that I still can do it. I still have it inside myself."
After beating Pliskova, Haddad Maia described herself as an emotional player who often screams or pumps her fist on the court. She said that like Halep she's learning to channel that passion productively.
"I just try to breathe a little bit more. I try to calm down and think about what I need to do and not what I'm experiencing," said Haddad Maia. "I try to play every point and think about the next shot.
"I don't think about, 'Oh, I'm here playing against No. 1 in the world in a big stage in a 1000 WTA,' because otherwise I wouldn't be able to play."
The WTA event was hard on seeded players with the top six all being eliminated before the quarterfinals. Haddad Maia was responsible for three of those upsets, taking down 13th seeded Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., world No. 1 Iga Swiatek, and 14th seeded Pliskova in succession.
A year ago Haddad Maia was ranked 183rd in the world, she entered this week's tournament No. 24 and will crack the top 20 next week.
"I think the results have come because of the hard work," she said. "The only thing I changed in the last 12 months was to focus more on the process and not about results.
"For sure we set goals, and my next goal was to be in the top 20. So I'm very happy because we never know in tennis when it's going to happen."
Both Halep and Pegula were visibly frustrated with their own play in the third set after several unforced errors or double faults. Halep finished the match with 10 double faults to Pegula's one, but the American struggled with the placement of her returns.
Romanian flags dotted the stands at the tennis-specific venue on York University's campus and Halep, who won what was then called the Rogers Cup in 2016 and 2018, said she appreciated the support.
"Actually, it felt like we were in Romania today," she said. "Many people were supporting me. Actually, I felt like everyone was supporting me.
"They sent a lot of energy. In the tough moments they really pushed me."
In the late semifinal, Haddad Maia was dominant for most of the first set, quickly building a 5-1 lead. Plishkova started to build some momentum, however, winning three consecutive games.
Haddad Maia's 184 km/h serve on set point left Plishkova off-footed and the Czech player put her return into the net.
Plishkova had a strong start to the second set, building a 4-1 lead. But the 26-year-old Brazilian dug deep, tying the set 5-5.
After they exchanged games, the second set went to tiebreak.
Haddad Maia led the tiebreak 8-7 for second match point when Pliskova double faulted, angrily swatting away the Brazilian's return.
Pegula teamed with fellow American Coco Gauff later Saturday in the semifinal of the doubles tournament, beating Madison Keys of the U.S. and India's Sania Mirza 7-5, 7-5 to advance to Sunday.
Ottawa's Gabriela Dabrowski and Mexican partner Giuliana Olmos were eliminated Saturday night in a tense semifinal doubles match against American Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Australia's Ellen Perez, who won 7-6 (5), 6-3.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 13, 2022.
Toronto police are investigating a shooting that took place outside of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion early Tuesday morning, a source tells CP24.
Sporting mullets, Canadian Armed Forces officer cadets placed second in an annual military skills competition in the U.S.
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
The Met Gala and its fashionista A-listers on Monday included Jennifer Lopez, Zendaya and a parade of others in a swirl of flora and fauna looks on a green-tinged carpet lined by live foliage.
The rumours are true: Vegetables aren't real — that is, in botany, anyway. While the term fruit is recognized botanically as anything that contains a seed or seeds, vegetable is actually a broad umbrella term.
Noelia Voigt, who was crowned Miss USA in November 2023, has announced she is resigning from her role, saying the decision is in the best interest of her mental health.
Sure, she was a royal princess and all. But there’s no way Sleeping Beauty — either before or after her nap — ever had quite the fabulous wardrobe that’s been assembled at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Donald Trump returns to the hush money trial Tuesday facing a threat of jail time for additional gag order violations as prosecutors gear up to summon big-name witnesses including porn actor Stormy Daniels.
Israeli tanks seized control of Gaza's vital Rafah border crossing on Tuesday as Israel brushed off urgent warnings from close allies and moved into the southern city even as cease-fire negotiations with Hamas remained on a knife's edge.
Whether passionate about Poirot or hungry for Holmes, Winnipeg mystery obsessives have had a local haunt for over 30 years in which to search out their latest page-turners.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.