What a week for Simona Halep!
The Romanian started his run in Madrid battling with a rather nasty cold, but eventually she made it to the final after playing fantastic tennis.
The semifinal
Simona reached the semifinal without dropping a single set after beating Margarita Gasparyan 6-0 6-4, Johanna Konta 7-5 6-1, Viktoria Kuzmova 6-0 6-0, and Ashleigh Barty 7-5 7-5.
The Romanian was opposed to the world no.18 Belinda Bencic that won a sensational match the day before against the world no.1 Naomi Osaka 3-6 6-2 7-5 after she was 3-5 down in the decider.
The semifinal was rather uncharacteristic. In the first set, after the pair was locked on a 2-all scoreline, Simona won 5 consecutive games after dropping only 4 points in total and grab a 6-2 1-0 lead.
Later it was time for Belinda to strike back, win 3 consecutive games before the affair went to the tiebreak that the Swiss won at 2.
Halep started strong in the decider to grab a good 3-0 lead. Belinda was in tears during the changeover, and she couldn’t do anything to stop the Romanian that won the contest 6-2 6-7 (2) 6-0 in 1 hour and 57 minutes.
Simona will face either Kiki Berten or Sloane Stephens for the title and to be the new world no.1
The #MMOpen Final awaits for @Simona_Halep 😎
She clinches the match over Bencic, 6-2, 6(2)-7, 6-0. pic.twitter.com/lFGiUuLvNX
— WTA (@WTA) May 10, 2019
AGAIN WORLD NO.1?
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