Simona Halep conquers the title in Rome not in the way she wanted, but … that is still a title! Karolina Pliskova was clearly struggling with her movements from the very beginning of the match with her a left thigh injury. The defending champion tried to stay strong and play, but it is practically impossible to face Simona Halep on clay when you are not at your 100%.
Eventually, Karolina retired when she was 0-6 1-2 down.
Simona commented:
“I’ve finally won it. I love this tournament, and I play well here almost every year – besides last year, of course. I started my rise up the rankings at this tournament in 2013, so I’ve always dreamed of having this title. I’m really happy that it happened today.”
Simona Halep in 2020
Ranked no.2, Halep played her last match on the 21st of September when she defeated Karolina Pliskova 6-0 2-1 in the final in Rome to win her 22nd
career title.This season Simona has a 20-2 win-loss record. The Romanian has won 3 titles in 2020 in Dubai, in Prague and in Rome.
Karolina Pliskova in 2020
Now ranked no.4, Pliskova played her last match on the 21st of September when she had to retire when playing against Simona Halep in the final and the scoreline was 6-0 2-1
.This season the Czech has a 13-6 win-loss record. Karolina has won 1 title in Brisbane. The Czech got to the final in Rome.
Simona Halep and Karolina Pliskova played each other 12 times. The head to head is 8-4 for Halep. The last time that they fought against each other, Simona Halep won 6-0 2-1 ret. in the final in Rome (Internazionali BNL d’Italia) on the 21st of September 2020.
In the following video you can watch the highlights.