Beijing: Simona Halep will take over as the new No.1 in the WTA world rankings after progressing to the China Open tennis tournament final with a dominant 6-2, 6-4 victory over Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko here, Saturday.
The Romanian avenged this year’s French Open final defeat to the hard-hitting Ostapenko with a ruthless display of all-round tennis that saw her send down five aces and 14 winners to oust the 20-year-old in 75 minutes.
The 26-year-old takes over the top spot from Spaniard Garbine Muguruza and will become the first Romanian to head the rankings when the updated standings are released Monday.
“It’s very emotional, I think it’s the first time I cried on court,” Halep said in a post-match interview. “It’s amazing that I could do this. My team, everyone at home… is watching, and I want to thank everyone. It’s my special day.”
WTA CEO Steve Simon and tour president Micky Lawler presented Halep, who had come close to topping the rankings on three different occasions earlier this year, with a memento to mark her achievement after the match.
Meanwhile in the men’s segment, top seed Rafa Nadal moved a step closer to winning the title with a hard-fought 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 win over Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov. This will be Nadal’s sixth title of the season if he beats either Nick Kyrgios or Alexander Zverev, who are to face off later in the day in the other semifinal.
Sania-Peng loses
Sania Mirza and her doubles partner Shuai Peng’s campaign in the China Open ended after they suffered a 6-2, 1-6, 5-10 defeat in the semifinal to Martina Hingis and Chan Yung-jan here Saturday. Swiss veteran Hingis and her Taiwanese partner will take on Timea Babos and Andrea Hlavackova, who beat Ekaterina Makarova and Elina Vesnina 7-5, 6-4, 10-8, in the final.
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