Romanian tennis star Simona Halep, number four in the WTA ranking of best women's tennis players in the world, is to receive a big bonus for participating in major tournaments this year.

Halep has played in all competitions in the Premier Mandatory and Premier 5 categories, and this will bring her a bonus of USD 450,000 from the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), reports local Prosport.ro. This means that the Romanian will get close to total earnings of USD 4 million this season.

A clause in the WTA regulation says that a tennis player who ends the year fourth or fifth in the WTA ranking gets a USD 200,000 bonus for participating in all four Premier Mandatory tournaments and another USD 200,000 for evolving in all Premier 5 tournaments, plus an extra USD 50,000 if both conditions are met.

The amount could increase by USD 200,000 if the Romanian ends the season on the third place.

Simona Halep has played all Premier Mandatory tournaments this season, namely Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, and Beijing, as well as all Premier 5 tournaments - Doha, Roma, Montreal, Cincinnati, and Wuhan.

Halep won three WTA titles this year, in Madrid, Bucharest, and Montreal. She also qualified for the WTA Finals.

The 25-year old Romanian has won 14 WTA titles in her career and her career earnings are close to USD 15 million.

Romania’s tennis ace Simona Halep aims to become world’s number one

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com