Romanian tennis star Simona Halep, the current number 5 in the WTA ranking of the best women’s tennis players in the world and Wimbledon 2019 champion, will play for the first time against Canada’s Bianca Andreescu (no. 5 WTA), the winner of the 2019 US Open. The two players will meet in the group stage of the WTA Finals in Shenzhen (China).

Simona Halep, 28, is for the fifth time at the WTA Finals, also known as the Champions’ Tournament. She qualified to the competition in the last six years, but couldn’t play in 2018 due to an injury. Halep reached the competition’s final in 2014, at her first appearance, when she beat Serena Williams in the group stage but lost to the American champion in the final.

Meanwhile, Bianca Andreescu, 19, will play for the first time in the WTA Finals. Andreescu had a great year, with three tournaments won (Indian Wells, Rogers Cup, and US Open), which turned her into the new rising star in women’s tennis and a hero in Canada and Romania as well. Andreescu’s parents are Romanian immigrants.

Halep and Andreescu were drawn in the same group with Czech Karolina Pliskova (no. 2 WTA) and Ukrainian Elina Svitolina (no. 8 WTA). Halep has won seven of her ten matches against Pliskova and has a 4-4 record with Svitolina. Meanwhile, Bianca Andreescu has beat both Pliskova and Svitolina in their first and only matches so far this year.

The other group of the WTA Finals is made of WTA leader Ashleigh Barty, Naomi Osaka (no. 3 WTA), Petra Kvitova (no. 6 WTA) and Belinda Bencic (no. 7 WTA).

The WTA Finals take place between October 27 and November 3 in Shenzhen.

editor@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: WTA Finals Facebook page)