Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, currently number 5 in WTA rankings, managed to get to the final act of the Mutua Madrid Open, one of the most important tournaments in international tennis opens that come before the Roland Garros Grand Slam. However, Halep lost the final on Sunday, May 11, to Russian Maria Sharapova (no. 9 WTA).

This is the second best performance of this year’s season for Halep, who also won the Quatar Open in February. Halep will get 650 WTA points for reaching the final, which is not enough to get her the number 4 place in the WTA rankings. Sharapova gets 1,000 points for winning the title. Total prize money for the women’s tournament amount to EUR 4.03 million.

Halep had a good run in Madrid. She defeated German Sabine Lisicki in the third round (5-7, 6-3, 6-2), she passed Serbian Ana Ivanovic in the quarterfinals (6-2, 6-2) and in the semis she got past Czech player Petra Kvitova (6-7, 6-3, 6-2). Kitova had qualified to the semifinals after Serena Williams, the current number one in the WTA rankings, withdrew from the tournament due to an injury. Williams won the Mardid Open in 2012 and 2013.

In the final match, Halep started strongly and took the first set 6-1, but Sharapova recovered and won the following two sets 2-6 and 3-6.

The Madrid Open in currently owned by Romanian businessman and former tennis player Ion Tiriac.

Andrei Chirileasa, andrei@romania-insider.com

(photo source: Madrid Open Facebook Page; photo by Angel Martinez)