Romanian tennis star Simona Halep, currently 5th in the WTA ranking of the best women’s tennis players in the world, will play against the world’s number one Serena Williams in the quarter-finals of the Indian Wells tennis tournament in the US.

Halep reached this stage after a victory against Czech Barbora Strycova on Tuesday night. Strycova had to abandon in the second set. The score was 6-3, 1-0 for Halep.

Reaching the quarter-final stage at Indian Wells is Halep’s best performance this year, after a series of bad results in important tournaments, including the Australian Open.

Simona Halep, who went down from 2nd to 5 thin the WTA ranking this year, hopes to defeat Serena Williams for the second time in her career and move forward in her quest to defend the title she won last year at Indian Wells.

Halep beat Serena once in the group stage of the Champions Tournament in Singapore, in November 2014. The American beat the Romanian in six other matches, including twice last year, in the semifinals at Miami and the final at Cincinnati.

The two were also supposed to play in the semifinals at Indian Wells last year, but Williams withdrew before the match and Halep advanced to the final, which she won.

editor@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: BNP Paribas Open, Photo by: Michael Cummo)