Cincinnati, Sunday, August 19th, 2018. Final of the WTA Premier 5 Western & Southern Open (a.k.a. Cincinnati Masters) pitted the Romanian Simona Halep, the World no. 1 everything had been going great for in the past year, and the Dutch Kiki Bertens.
Halep was leading 6-2 and had a matchpoint in the tie-break of the next set at 6-5. She did not convert and quickly lost the tie-break. With it, the second set. And then the subsequent third set in a fairly straightforward manner, losing her first three serves.
Nothing too unusual, one might say. After that final loss she cancelled her appearance in the next week WTA Premier Connecticut Open, understandably so, given her packed schedule.
But then came the next tournament. US Open, Round 1, Kaia Kannepi on the other side of the court and a comprehensive loss of 2-6, 4-6, with Halep having relinquished her serve on no less than five occasions. And as Wikipedia writes, ‘Simona Halep’s first-round loss to Kaia Kanepi marked the first time in the Open Era that the top seed lost in the first round of the women’s singles of the US Open’.
Next. WTA Premier 5 Wuhan Open in China, Halep vs. the Slovakian Cibulkova. Simona lost her first four serves of the match (seven on aggregate!), turning the scoreboard into menacing 0-6, 5-7. She saved but 1 of the 8 breakpoints she faced, a stat even bleaker than in her previous match, at 2-of-7.
And next. WTA Premier Mandatory China Open. Having lost all her serves, she went out unspectacularly, as she retired after the first set was over (at 1-6), with only 1 breakpoint saved, due to a disk hernia in her back. This injury may likely have hampered her play in Wuhan Open, as well.
She was forced to cancel her appearance at WTA Premier Kremlin Cup in Moscow, as well as the traditional year-end WTA Finals in Singapora. And maybe a chance for a reset.
No luck. It dindn’t make any difference so far.
Upon her return at 2019 WTA Premier Sydney International she – yet again – lost in the 1st round, this time to hot Ashleigh Barty (having just returned from Perth’s Hopman Cup), with a score of 4-6, 4-6. She lost four of her serves and saved only three breakpoints for a rate below 50%, a no stellar performance to say the least.
The question remains, how is she going to fare at the Australian Open? Remember, we’re talking about still current World no. 1. That’s how big a cushion she had at the top of the ranking before her downward spiral begin. That’s why she had become viewed as an epitome of stability in rather turbulent waters of women’s tennis, where one day you’re number 1, the other you might as well be out of Top 100.
She is facing Kaia Kanepi, the veteran Estonian that slayed her at US Open. I have to admit I pity Simona, as she worked hard and deserves even more success than she has enjoyed so far on the women’s tour. Let’s wait and see…
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