Stosur hammered by Halep in Madrid semis

Sam Stosur has been ruthlessly bundled out of the Madrid Open at the semi-final stage by Simona Halep with the world No.7 from Romania taking less than an hour to win 6-2 6-0.

The result was a disappointing end to another encouraging week for the Australian, who also reached the final in the Prague event last Saturday, as she gears up for the French Open which gets underway on May 16.

Halep, who reached the final of this event two years ago, was simply too good for Stosur who slipped to defeat in 51 minutes.

Dominika Cibulkova will meet Halep in Saturday's final after ending the run on American qualifier Louisa Chrico 6-1 6-1.