Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, 7th WTA, has won the Mutua Madrid Open on Saturday after defeating Dominika Cibulkova (Slovakia) 6 – 2, 6 – 4 in a one-hour and 20 minute-match. This is the first title this year for Halep, a runner-up in Madrid to Maria Sharapova in 2014, when she lost in three sets.
The victory brings Halep EUR 912,900 and 1,000 WTA points that will take her up two positions in the WTA ranking to be released on Monday.
Madrid holds a special place in the Romanian’s career: it was here in 2013 that she received a wildcard that kick started her ascent into the WTA’s elite. In 2014 Halep returned as a finalist, and this year she led a strong Romanian contingent that made tournament history before she captured her second career Premier Mandatory title, wtatennis.com informs.
Despite coming into the tournament surrounded by questions about her health and fitness, Halep’s performance in Madrid was nothing short of dominating. She dropped just one set all tournament long, and in the last round she overpowered Sam Stosur 6-2, 6-0 to reach the final against Cibulkova.
Into her third final of the year, No.38-ranked Cibulkova is the lowest ranked player to reach a Premier Mandatory final since 2009, when the WTA Roadmap was introduced. In fact, even though she famously reached the Australian Open final in 2014, Madrid marks the Slovak’s first ever appearance at a Premier Mandatory final.