Simona Halep was defeated by Caroline Garcia (France) 6-4, 6-3 on Monday in the first round of the WTA 1,000 tournament in Doha, Qatar, with a total prize pool of $ 2,632,448.
30yo Halep, 27 WTA, was defeated by a lower ranked opponent (28 years, 76 WTA) after one hour and 34 minutes.
Garcia took advantage of the modest evolution of the former world leader and got his second victory in nine duels with Halep.
The Romanian tennis player came back after five consecutive victories in direct matches. Halep finished with 4 aces and 5 double faults, failing to win any break points in nine opportunities. Garcia, who had an aggressive attitude, managed 5 aces and made 3 double mistakes. The Frenchwoman totaled 30 straight winning balls, compared to only 14 of Simona Halep, even if she had even more unforced errors, 34-20.
Simona Halep ended up with a $ 10,820 check and a WTA point. She won the Doha title in 2014 and played in the 2019 final.