Romanian tennis star Simona Halep is to end her second year as World No.1, regardless of future results this year, after German Angelique Kerber was eliminated from China Open after losing in three sets to China's Zhang Shuai.

Kerber would have been the only player close enough to take Halep's place in the WTA ranking, local Stirileprotv.ro reported.

Simona Halep became the 25th player to achieve the No.1 ranking on October 9, 2017, following her 27th career WTA final at the China Open in Beijing. She entered the Top 10 for the first time on January 27, 2014, and has maintained her Top 10 status for 196 consecutive weeks. Having made her debut in the Top 5 in the spring of 2014, the Romanian has spent just eight weeks below that threshold.

At the end of 2018, Simona Halep will reach 60 weeks in the No.1 position, a performance that will include her in the “all time” Top 10, surpassing Victoria Azarenka from Belarus, who was No.1 for 51 weeks.

Halep announced earlier this week that she was diagnosed with disk hernia. This means that she may decide not to participate in the rest of the tournaments this year.

Romania’s Simona Halep goes up in global ranking of highest-paid female athletes

Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(photo source: Facebook / Roland Garros)