Simona Halep

Simona Halep (born September 27, 1991 in Constanţa, Romania) is a tennis player playing on the ITF Women's Circuit and the WTA Tour. She is well known among tennis fans for her aggressive style of play.

In 2010 January she entered the Australian Open, but lost to Stéphanie Foretz of France 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in the first round of qualifying.

She was as of April 5, 2010 ranked 166th in the world.

Her breakthrough on the WTA tour occurred during the 2010 Andalucia Tennis Experience on the clay courts of Marbella, Spain. As a qualifier, she advanced to the quarterfinals with wins over world #70 Iveta Benešová and world #36 Sorana Cîrstea. She then put up a fight against world No.16 Flavia Pennetta, but was finally beaten by the No. 2 seed 6-4, 7-6(4).

Halep then qualified for the 2010 Barcelona Ladies Open by winning 3 matches, but was defeated in the first round of the main draw by Carla Suárez Navarro 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

Halep's impressive form continued into the 2010 Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem in Fes. Seeded first in the qualifying round, she successfully qualified by defeating Nathalie Vierin 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 and Estrella Cabeza Candela 6-1, 6-1. In the first round she defeated No. 8 seed Lucie Hradecká 7-5, 6-1. In the second round she feated Olga Savchuk 6-3, 6-1 before causing a big upset in the quarter-finals where she defeated No. 2 seed and former top 10 player Patty Schnyder 6-2, 7-6(3). In the semi-final she defeated Renata Voráčová 7-5, 6-4 to advance to her first WTA Tour Tournament final. But she lost to Voráčová's Czech compatriot Iveta Benešová 4-6, 2-6 in final.

In May 2010 Halep qualified for the French Open, defeating Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-4, 6-7, 6-4 in the final round of qualifying. She was defeated 7-5, 6-1 in the first round by seventh seed Samantha Stosur.

In August 2010 Halep faced Jelena Janković at the U.S. Open in the first round. Halep had a chance to win an upset victory over Jankovic but was broken while serving for the set at 5-4 in the third. In the end, Jankovic won 6-4, 4-6, 7-5.


statics
Country : Romania
Residence : Constanţa, Romania
Date of birth : September 27, 1991 (1991-09-27)
Place of birth : Constanţa, Romania
Height : 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
Weight : 64 kg (140 lb)
Plays : Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career prize money : US$145,736