Simona Halep had a fantastic campaign in North America after she won Montreal and she had a championship point against Kiki Bertens in Cincinnati. After failing to convert that match point, things went south for the world no.1 that lost 3 consecutive matches: the final in Cincinnati and the opening matches at the US Open and in Wuhan.

In China, the Romanian got injured while practicing with Petra Kvitova on Sunday and she was doubtful about facing Cibulkova in the 2^nd round. Eventually, Simona went for it, but it was a bit of a disaster. In fact, after being bagelled in the first set (6-0), Simona could offer only some opposition in the second set before losing 6-0 7-5.

I am sad because of the injury. HALEP

After the match, Simona commented

“It was tough to play in the beginning because my back was blocked. I knew it was because we talked together with my team. Normally, I’d have to retire, but I didn’t want to, and I don’t like to do that. I pushed myself to play better,

I’m not disappointed, but I’m just sad this injury came from nowhere. I’m just going to go with the flow, and we’ll see what’s going to happen in a few days.”

Halep schedule

Simona is still scheduled to play in Beijing next week and in Moscow the week after hoping to retain her world no.1 by the end of the year.