Simona Halep won the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships singles title on Saturday to underscore her surging start to 2020. After a semifinal run at the Australian Open, the Romanian went all the way in the United Arab Emirates, creating a nice bit of symmetry by winning her 20th WTA singles title on the tournament's 20th anniversary.
The reigning Wimbledon champion came from a set down in three of her four matches in Dubai, including in the 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 final against Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan.
Halep, who received a first-round bye as the tournament's No. 1 seed, also won a third-set breaker against Ons Jabeur in the Round of 16, then escaped No. 7 Aryna Sabalenka in the quarterfinals before a straight-set domination of Jennifer Brady in the semis.
Here’s more on the champion.
The Simona Halep File
Age: 28
Birthplace: Constanta, Romania
Current Rank: 2
Career-High Rank: 1 (Oct. 2017)
Best US Open Finish: Semifinals (2015)
The Baseline:
- Two of Halep's 20 WTA titles have now come in Dubai. She also won her 10th career trophy at the event, when she defeated Karolina Pliskova in the 2015 final.
- Halep's determination was on full display on the UAE hard courts last week. While she frequently flashes her persistence between the lines, that same trait has served her well in the bigger picture throughout her career. Halep won her first Grand Slam title in her fourth final, at the 2018 French Open, and also took four tries to win her first WTA final, when she won the Nuremberg Cup in 2013 at age 21.
- With 93 Grand Slam match wins in singles in her career, a second French Open title this spring would push that total to an even 100, adding to the symmetry of her 20th title in Dubai. The Romanian has reached the final at every Slam outside of the US Open, where she counts a 2015 semifinal run and a 2016 quarterfinal appearance as her best showings. She has faltered since then in New York, however, struggling to a 1-3 record in the last three years, including back-to-back first-round exits in 2017 and 2018.
- Halep reached the No. 1 spot in the WTA rankings before winning her first major, first reaching the summit in October 2017. A two-time year-end No. 1, in 2017 and 2018, Halep has spent 64 weeks atop the rankings across two stretches, the 10th-most combined weeks at No. 1 since the WTA introduced computerized rankings in 1975.
- After four-year coach Darren Cahill took 2019 off to spend time with his family, the Aussie rejoined Halep's coaching team for 2020. The pair have quickly found their old groove, with Halep holding a 10-2 record in three events this season so far. Though Cahill did not travel with Halep last season, the Romanian still considered him part of her team, supplementing then-coach Daniel Dobre.
They Said It!
"It feels great that I could win it. Actually, it was amazing. [Rybakina] fought until the end. She didn't give up on any balls. It was really tough mentally. The pressure was very high. But I want it badly, so that's why I fought until the end." – Halep said after her three-set final victory.
