Simona Halep won the Dubai
\ntournament on Saturday after a break of 5 years. The 28-year-old player
\nprevailed at the end of a drama-packed 2-hour-and-a-half final against the
\nyoung and talented Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan. Simona defeated Rybakina after
\nlast autumn in Wuhan Halep was forced to withdraw in a direct encounter with
\nthe Kazakhstani player. It’s very special to win my 20th title here
\nat the 20th edition of the Dubai tournament in 2020. I will enjoy
\nit, it’s a very beautiful moment, Simona said, adding I feel extraordinary
\nfor being able to win. It was amazing. Rykabina fought to the very end, she
\ndidn’t give up any points. It was very challenging mentally, the pressure piled
\nup, but I really wanted to win, so I gave it all to the very end. Halep
\npraised her opponent, whom many see as Maria Sharapova’s successor in the WTA
\ncircuit. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
She’s very strong. Her serve
\nis powerful, she’s tall and robust. I think she will soon enter the top 10,
\nHalep described Rybakina. The former world no. 1, currently world no. 2, has
\nwon her first title this year. Halep just entered the 318th consecutive
\nweek in the top 10 players, which makes her the 10th player in the
\nworld history to do so. The figures may be boring, but they are key to
\nunderstanding one of the greatest athlete in the history of Romanian tennis, if
\nnot sports as a whole. This is all the more important as Romania is struggling
\nwith achieving excellence in the field of sports, facing severe underfunding.
\nWith 20 titles won so far, Simona Halep has matched the performance of Victoria
\nAzarenka of Belarus, and is ranked 6th in the standings of players
\nwho are still active, after Serena and Venus Williams, Kim Clujsters, Maria
\nSharapova and Petra Kvitova. I’ve had many good results in the last 6-7 years.
\nI’ve always ranked in the top 5 or top 10, which isn’t easy. I’m proud of my
\nachievements, and these tournaments are a confidence boost for me, confirming
\nI’m still able to play at top level, Halep went on to say. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Simona Halep won
\nher first WTA tournaments 7 years ago, in Nurnberg, ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Budapest,
\nNew Haven, Moscow and Sofia. At the same time she won the Doha, Bucharest,
\nShenzhen, Dubai, Indian Wells, Madrid and Montreal tournaments. She won two
\nGrand Slam tournaments, in Roland Garros in 2018 and in Wimbledon last year,
\nafter a historic final against tennis legend Serena Williams. The Romanian also
\nplayed an Australian Open final in 2018. So far Halep lost 17 finals, and it
\nwould be na\u00efve to dwell on this statistic. On the contrary, it goes to say that
\nHalep has been a constant achiever in tennis. Last but not least, Halep has had
\nmajor contributions to Romania’s wins in the Fed Cup, and will represent
\nRomania at the Tokyo Summer Olympics this year.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
(Translated by V. Palcu) <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Romanian tennis player Simona Halep last Saturday won the 20th title of her careerr<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":84774,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[39894,33202,28900,39736],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-84773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-20th-title","tag-dubai-tournament","tag-simona-halep","tag-wta-circuit"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n