Simona Halep seems to be more and more confident as the leader of the WTA circuit.

After winning the Shenzhen Open, the Romanian has recently widened the gap in the rankings with the rest of the pack from being no.1 only of 40pts to lead Caroline Wozniacki (now world no.2) of 330pts.

Why Simona is the favorite

Tennis Legend Chris Evert is particularly impressed with the world no.1, and she believes that she is in pole position to win the Australian Open.

Chris commented

“I feel like Simona Halep had such a disappointing 2017 in the majors, and I feel she is determined to turn that around. She had a heartbreaking 2017 in all the majors. I just feel like she’s playing the best tennis right now, playing the most solid tennis.

I think she has good training. In the fall, with every interview I see, every time I see her on TV or Twitter, she has a big smile on her face.

I think she’s personally in a good frame of mind. She’s liking being No. 1. She’s enjoying that. She’s embracing it. She’s not fearful of it. I say that, again, without 100% conviction, but I’m going to have to pick her as my favorite.”

Simona has now 16 career titles, but no slams. Time to fix this?