PETE ZIEBRON
World #3 Simona Halep played and won the Bucharest Open the week following her march to the Wimbledon semifinals. Yesterday, Halep defeated #2 seed Roberta Vinci of Italy 6-3 6-1 in only 68 minutes.
Halep has gone deep in every major this year, having advanced to the quarterfinals at the Australian Open, the final at Roland Garros and the semifinals at Wimbledon. Her win in her home country of Romania yesterday marked her 2nd title of the year and 8th since June of last year.
The 5' 6" Halep takes the court for each match, playing on her terms, "Usually I go on court with my tactic to be aggressive, to play fast, and to open the court, to open the angles." Against the stronger players on the WTA tour, like Maria Sharapova whom Halep lost to in the Roland Garros final, she tends to stay closer to the baseline. But no matter whom she faces, Halep likes to play quickly, seeks to pull her opponent out wide repeatedly and concurrently open up the angles on court.
A look at Simona Halep's 8 titles:
7.14 Bucharest d. #24 Roberta Vinci ITA 6-1 6-3 on clay
2.14 Doha d. #9 Angelique Kerber GER 6-2 6-3 on hard
10.13 Sofia d. #19 Sam Stosur AUS 2-6 6-2 6-2 on hard
10.13 Moscow d. #19 Sam Stosur AUS 7-6(1) 6-2 on hard
8.13 New Haven d. #9 Petra Kvitova 6-2 6-2 on hard
7.13 Budapest d. #112 Yvonne Meusburger AUT 6-3 6-7(7) 6-1 on clay
6.13 's-Hertogenbosch d. #20 Kirsten Flipkens BEL 6-4 6-2 on grass
6.13 Nurnberg d. #103 Andrea Petkovic GER 6-3 6-3 on clay
Going forward, Simona Halep will enjoy a well deserved vacation on the beach before she prepares for the North American hard court season. Halep will seek to improve upon a round of 16 result at last year's US Open and also compete for the first time at the WTA Finals in Singapore in late October. With yesterday's title in Bucharest, Halep trails Road to Singapore leader Maria Sharapova by only 11 points. The top 8 women will be invited to compete for the year end title.
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