WTA: Simona Halep – number one out of range?

Simona Halep and her ambitions for the number one position in the WTA ranking become an endless story.In Wuhan there was the next big damper for the Romanian.

For Simona Halep, it’s like a witch with the number one.At the WTA Premier 5 tournament in Wuhan, Simona Halep had the next chance to take the lead in the world rankings after the tournament.The Romanian should have reached at least the final, the tournament victory would have made her number one if Garbine Muguruza had lost before the final.But the number-one ambitions turned out to be nothing.Halep lost in her opening match in Wuhan against Russian Daria Kasatkina 2-6,1-6.

Flashback: At the French Open, the 25-year-old was close to winning the title and taking the lead in the world rankings – especially when leading the set, and Breakball was 4-0 in the second set.Shortly afterwards in Eastbourne, Halep missed the next chance to climb the tennis throne with the loss in the quarter-finals.In Wimbledon there was a third missed opportunity when she led in the quarter-finals against Johanna Contacts in the tiebreak of the second set with 5:4 and had two serves of her own.Halep lost the match and Karolina Pliskova eventually took the lead in the world rankings, partly because she benefited from a delay in meeting this year.

In Cincinnati, Halep had the fourth big chance.The Romanian reached the final against Garbine Muguruza.She would have been number one in the title.The result: Halep lost in only 56 minutes with 1:6,0:6 and was five points behind Pliskova in the WTA ranking.At the US Open the signs for the ascent of the tennis throne were very good, but the draw with Maria Sharapova as the opening opponent became Halep’s downfall.Instead, Muguruza replaced Czech Pliskova as the number one.

The clear defeat in Wuhan may have consequences for Halep.If Muguruza win the Premier 5 tournament or reach the final, Halep’s number one move this year would probably be over.The 25-year-old has a big chance of making amends next week.At the WTA Premier Mandatory tournament in Beijing, the winner will receive 1000 world ranking points.