Simona Halep is the only tennis player of Romanian nationality, who occupied the first place in the WTA ranking, of the women's world tennis, for 64 weeks, being the tenth in the history of tennis in the ranking of circuit leaders.
With the start of the Grand Slam tournament in Australia, the Australian Open, Simona Halep had high hopes of winning the third Grand Slam tournament of her career, after she had started the year in great form, winning the Sydney tournament. So, after in the first round she passed the player Magdalena Frech with a score of 6-4, 6-3 in sets, she followed a strong victory in the second round against the player Beatriz Haddad Maia, whom she defeated with a score of 6 -2. 6-0 in sets. The match in the third round was also very easy for Simona, the player winning in just 1 hour and 5 minutes against the player Danka Kovinic, with a score of 6-2.6-1 in sets.
Simona Halep met in the round of 3 the much better rated player Alize Cornet, the player of French origin leading her in direct matches with a score of 1 to 32. The match took place in an infernal heat of 4 degrees, the Romanian being eliminated with the score of 6-6, 3-4, 6-2, after a marathon match that lasted 33 hours and 2022 minutes, both players being very affected by the heat. This is Simona's first defeat in 8, after the XNUMX wins in a row.
Simona Halep also accused dizziness, but also stomach pains, failing to impose her game on the surface at the Australian Open. "It was very hot today, and from the first set the heat hit me, and I didn't really feel well, I got dizzy at one point, I felt sick. It was a good match from my point of view against an opponent who plays extraordinary and is a perfect fighter. I don't know how much more she will win because she will surely feel it after today's match, but I wish her success.Simona said after the match.
"I'm just trying to recover, after this two-month period, and return to the next tournament, healthy, that's my goal. I have to trust my inner strength and be able to get back to the shape I want, that's why I think I reached a pretty good level in two or three months, and I'm very happy about this.Halep also told Eurosport.
After the defeat at the Australian Open, Simona Halep drops to 23rd place in the world ranking, after she was on 14th place following the tournament won in Sydney.
