Halep's near-flawless display at the All England Club marked a spectacular return to form after her world ranking dropped from first to seventh between mid-January and July.
Petra Kvitova takes on Naomi Osaka in Saturday's Australian Open final with one of them set to emerge as a fresh champion at Melbourne Park.
'She's always smiling. I mean, we try in our team to smile everywhere. We make so many funny stuff around the court. She likes it'
Osaka remains on course for glory at Melbourne Park after blowing away Ukrainian Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-1 to set up a last four clash with Czech Karolina Pliskova in the year's first Grand Slam.
Twice Grand Slam winner Svetlana Kuznetsova and 14th seed Elena Vesnina posted hard-fought, straight-set wins in Friday's semi-finals to set up an all-Russian final in the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells.
Muguruza used her experience to get out of trouble, eventually set up a meeting with Ukrainian 10th seed Elina Svitolina in just over two hours under a relentless sun at Indian Wells.
Images from Day 4 of the Australian Open in Melbourne on Thursday
Images from Day 2 of the Wimbledon tennis championships in London, on Tuesday.
Top seed Angelique Kerber was knocked out of the last-16 of Wimbledon by Garbine Muguruza on Monday, ensuring she will lose her world number one ranking.
One year after shaking off a crippling foot injury to claim a stunning US Open victory, Sloane Stephens said her follow-up season felt just as good as the American prepares to play in next week's WTA Finals for the first time.
The 27-year-old Romanian beat Sloane Stephens at Roland Garros to win her maiden Grand Slam title in June and will have spent 40 weeks at the top of the rankings by the end of the season.
The unseeded Ostapenko, 20, downed Romanian third seed Simona Halep 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the final, hitting a staggering 54 winners and taking her tournament tally to 299.
Coric, who had failed to win a match in his last two appearances in Beijing and Shenzhen, saved two break points at 3-3 in the second set and clinched the first four games of the decider to record his 32nd match win of the season.
That is Murray's 46th ATP title.
Newly-crowned world number one Angelique Kerber has nothing left to prove after clinching the U.S. Open for a second grand slam this year and securing a place in the record books, the German said on Tuesday. The 28-year-old became the oldest player to rise to that rank when the new list was published on Monday, capping a memorable summer that also included the Olympic silver medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics and a Wimbledon final appearance.
Images from Day 4 of the Australian Open in Melbourne on Thursday.
Serena Williams sounded a warning for her fellow Australian Open contenders with a sleek win
Grand Slam finalists Garbine Muguruza and Roberta Vinci stormed into the last four of the Wuhan Open in China on Thursday while Venus Williams ended the giant-killing run of Briton Johanna Konta.
Venus Williams beat top seed Angelique Kerber on Wednesday to advance to a Miami Open semi-final against Britain's Johanna Konta.
Russia's Elena Vesnina ousted German second seed Angelique Kerber 6-3, 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, California on Tuesday.
Mirjana Lucic-Baroni offered no excuses for her meek departure from the Australian Open semi-finals at the hands of Serena Williams on Thursday, keener to discuss the career-high ranking that will follow her stunning run at Melbourne Park.
Svetlana Kuznetsova opened the defence of her Sydney International title with a comfortable 6-1, 6-4 victory over Irina-Camelia Begu on Sunday as the Australian Open warm-up event suffered a pair of big-name withdrawals.
World No 2 Serena Williams shook out any cobwebs from four months away from tennis with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over France's Pauline Parmentier in the first round of the Auckland Classic on Tuesday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
Spain's Garbine Muguruza reached her second Wimbledon final in three years with a thumping 6-1, 6-1 win over Slovakia's Magdalena Rybarikova.
There was not an ounce of bitterness as Osaka accepted the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup from Asia's first Grand Slam champion Li Na
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
Former world number one Novak Djokovic showed signs of a return to form with an impressive 7-5, 6-4 victory over Japan's Kei Nishikori in the opening round of the Madrid Open on Monday.
Images from the Australian Open in Melbourne on Thursday.
Temperamental Australian star Nick Kyrgios provided the perfect finish after veteran Carlos Moya's masterclass performance as Singapore Slammers hammered the Philippine Mavericks 30-22 in their opening match of the
Ana Konjuh was not a year old when Serena Williams played her first US Open match but both will be in the Arthur Ashe Stadium spotlight on Wednesday, with four gripping quarter-finals to take centre stage at the year's final Grand Slam.
Ana Konjuh has opened some eyes at Flushing Meadows as the 18-year-old former world number one junior emerged to reach her first Grand Slam quarter-final at the US Open.
Venus Williams moved within two wins of a possible sisterly showdown with Serena in the semi-finals of the US Open by beating German 26th seed Laura Siegemund to reach the fourth round on Saturday.
Andy Murray took a step closer to a first title in arguably the toughest year of his playing career, grinding out a 3-6, 7-5 ,6-2 win over Ugo Humbert on Saturday to reach the final of the European Open in Antwerp.
A calm Sloane Stephens picked her shots to perfection to overcome Japan's Naomi Osaka in a battle between the last two US Open champions at the WTA Finals on Monday before top seed Angelique Kerber was upset by Kiki Bertens.
Top seed and defending champion Roger Federer returned to form to beat Japan's Kei Nishikori 6-4, 7-6(4) and reach the Shanghai Masters semi-finals on Friday.
Twice Shanghai Masters champion Roger Federer was far from his best against Spain's Roberto Bautista Agut but did enough to reach the quarter-finals with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 win on Thursday.
Top seed and defending champion Roger Federer battled past in-form Russian Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 to reach the last-16 at the Shanghai Masters on Wednesday.
Fourth seed Kei Nishikori's hopes of making another magical U.S. Open run came to a quick end on Monday as last year's runner-up fell at the first hurdle, falling 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-4 to Frenchman Benoit Paire.
Zhang Shuai stunned Wimbledon Champion Angelique Kerber 6-1, 2-6, 6-0 in the China Open on Thursday to set up a quarter-final clash with Naomi Osaka.
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