MONTREAL — Any concerns about Angelique Kerber's left elbow have been put to rest at the US$2.4 million women's Rogers Cup.

The second seed from Germany advanced to the semifinals on Friday with a thorough 6-2, 6-2 victory over unseeded Russian Daria Kasatkina to reach the final four. She did it without a twinge from the elbow that forced her to withdraw from a match last week in Sweden and put her Rogers Cup participation in doubt.

"My elbow is feeling much better," said Kerber. "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."

She'll need it in the semifinals on Saturday, where she will face fifth-seeded Simona Halep of Romania, who recovered from a slow start to defeat Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia 3-6, 6-1, 6-1.

Tenth-seeded Madison Keys defeated 16th-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-6, 1-6, 6-0. The American, who upset Venus Williams in the third round, couldn't make a shot in the second set against her Russian opponent, then seemed to make them all in the third. She won nine straight points in one run late in the match.

"I'll say it's the same as (against Williams) — I backed off in the second set and in the third set I had to step up," said Keys.

She will next face Kristina Kucova, the Slovak qualifier who ousted Eugenie Bouchard of Westmount, Que., in the third round on Thursday before beating Johanna Konta of Great Britain 6-4, 6-3 on Friday in the quarters.

Kerber and Halep, the top two players left in the tournament, 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, but one was on a clay court in Federation Cup play and the other was on grass in the quarter-finals at Wimbledon.

To add some spice, Kerber is left-handed while Halep is a righty.

"Every match we played against each other was really close," said Kerber, 28, the reigning Australian Open champion. "I think it'll depend on the day.

"I'm really looking forward to playing against Simona again. We had a lot of tough matches in the last few months, and always long ones. I know the match will have a lot of long rallies. I think I'm ready for it."

Kerber needed exactly one hour to oust Kasatkina from her first Rogers Cup appearance, although the 19-year-old had a good week beating 13th seeded Samantha Stosur and seventh seeded Italian Roberta Vinci.

Halep got to the semifinals for a second year in a row. Last year in Toronto, the 24-year-old reached the final, but lost to Belinda Bencic after retiring in the third set with an illness.

The ninth-seeded Kuznetsova's frustration was evident on centre court when, after dominating the opening set, Halep turned the tables. Halep is coming off a win on clay in her home tournament in Bucharest two weeks ago.

"She didn't miss in the first set," said Halep. "I couldn't resist at that rhythm.

"Then in the second set I just tried to be more aggressive, to make her run a little bit more, to take the ball fast. If I stayed in the back I would have no chance."

As for facing Kerber again, Halep said: "It's going to be a pretty tough one. I know her pretty well. I played her in Wimbledon. But the grass is different, way different than hard court. It's going to be a big challenge for me. No expectations. Just go in there and to fight for it."

Halep and compatriot Monica Niculescu beat the second seeds, Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic of France, to reach the doubles semifinals. The American duo of Christina McHale and Asia Muhammad upset top-seeded Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza.