Simona Halep keeps on fighting against the rest of the pack to retain her world no.1 rank. The Romanian had to fight from the first week of the new season against Garbine Muguruza and Caroline Wozniacki to stay at the top as she is leading the Spaniard for only 40pts and she has only 160pts more than the Dane. (See WTA rankings) 

Garbine Muguruza had to win the Brisbane International to have a shot at the world no.1 rank, but eventually she had to withdraw during her first match because of cramps after she was leading 7-5 6-7 (3) 2-1 (1 break up).

With the Spaniard out, Simona can lose the world no.1 rank this week only to Caroline Wozniacki if the Dane wins the tournament in Auckland and the Romanian doesn’t reach the quarters in Shenzhen. That means that if Simona wins the next match, she will be “safe.”

Halep will face will face Ying-Ying Duan on Wednesday for a place in the quarters. The head to head is 1-0 for the Romanian that should have no problems to lead the rankings after this week.