Simona Halep: early 2019 tour shows signs of improvement

Former world number one Simona Halep has a few tournaments under her belt so far in 2019. How has her performance been?

Simona Halep is off to a solid start so far on the 2019 WTA Tour. The former world number one came to dominate women’s singles tennis for the better part of the past year before hitting a minor wall at the end of 2018. A back injury got the best of her and forced a withdrawal from the end of year WTA Finals.

Still though, Halep managed to finish 2018 as the year-end world number one. That would not last as she’d slide to second in the rankings early in the year. Receiving a bye at the Sydney International, Halep faced Ashleigh Barty in the round of 16 and would fall in straight sets.

Since her Sydney loss though, Halep is trending up. If we have to consider her end of year back issues, the rising of tennis star Naomi Osaka and others on the WTA Tour, and the tournaments that Halep has played, she is right where she needs to be.

At the Australian Open this year, the Romanian won three matches before falling the American legend Serena Williams in three sets. On her way to Williams, she also defeated Venus Williams with ease. Then, at the Qatar Total Open, Halep lived up to her top seeded billing by reaching the finals. She would see an upset at the hands of Elise Mertens, but her finals run included huge match wins along the way.

Most recently as of writing, Halep was ousted during the quarterfinals at the Dubai Tennis Championships. The third seed in Dubai, she found herself being upset by the red hot Belinda Bencic in a tough three set thriller. Bencic has reached the finals in Dubai to face Petra Kvitova.

All in all, Halep is playing strong tennis since her first match loss in Sydney. Her health is holding up and she is playing consistently deep into tournaments. These are all positive signs for the former world number one. She has some work left to do if she hopes to retake the top ranking in the sport, but Halep is putting herself in a good position to do so.

Stay tuned to see how Simona Halep fares in the coming weeks on the WTA Tour. She should challenge Osaka for the top spot in women’s singles and, if healthy throughout the year, will look to defend her year-end world number one status for the past two years.