Simona Halep was 1 win away from defending her world no.1 rank against the assault of Caroline Wozniacki.

Even if in the second round of the Shenzhen Open the Romanian was playing the Ying-Ying Duan that was ranked “only” as world no.91, the Chinese has already caused some problems to Simona in the past when she won 1 set in their only encounter at the Aegon International last year.

In her match against the Chinese, Simona had to edge a slow start (1-4), but after she lost the first set, her tennis became much smoother and eventually, the world no.1 won the encounter 3-6 6-1 6-2.

Absolutely RIDICULOUS! 😱

How did @Simona_Halep get this in?! #ShenzhenOpen pic.twitter.com/0Bahe4LrVc

— WTA (@WTA) January 3, 2018

I am just following my routine. HALEP

Soon after the match, Simona commented

“I’m not thinking about the ranking, I’m not thinking about the Australian Open. I will just keep the same routine and same things to do. I’m just thinking about the match tomorrow…I want to be focused just here.”

Next vs. Sabalenka

Simona will face the world no. 73 Aryna Sabalenka for a place in the semifinal. They have never played each other so far.