"Simona Halep"

Simona Halep (born September 27, 1991) is a world top-100 tennis player playing on the ITF Women's Circuit and the WTA Tour, and is currently the number-two ranked women's tennis player in Romania (out of 5 in the top-100). She is the youngest Romanian player in the top-100.

Halep's father Stere runs a cheese and milk factory. She started playing tennis at age four, in emulation of her older brother. She has self-described her playing style as being "an aggressive baseliner," while New York Times columnist Michael Kimmelman described her as "a scrappy player from Romania, short but with potent ground strokes and a scrambler’s talent." In a post-match interview Serena Williams once commented that Halep "serves well [for] her height... She has so much power on her serve."
2008

She started the year with a final in Nottinghill, losing to Arantxa Rus, then defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the quarterfinals at the Australian Open Junior Championships, before losing in the semifinal to Jessica Moore.

At the ITF $50,000 tournament in Bucharest, Halep eliminated former Roland Garros semi-finalist Sesil Karatantcheva in the first round, before losing in the quarterfinals to Sorana Cîrstea in three sets, 6–3, 3–6, 1–6.

She won a pair of junior events in May. First, she won the ITF $10,000 tournament in Bucharest against Stéphanie Vongsouthi by a score of 7–6, 6–3. That was followed by a victory in the finals at Trofeo Bonfiglio, winning over Bojana Jovanovski by a score of 6–4, 6–1.

At the Roland Garros Junior Championships, she entered the main draw as the 9th seed. In the first round, she defeated Charlotte Rodier, 6–4, 6–1, and then Karen Barbat from Denmark, 6–3, 6–1. In the 3rd round, Halep won against 5th seed Jessica Moore, 6–0, 6–1. In the quarterfinals, Simona beat 13th seed Ksenia Lykina, 6–1, 6–2. In the semifinals, Halep defeated second seed Arantxa Rus 6–3, 7–5, and then won the all–Romanian final, 6–4, 6–7, 6–2 against 10th seed Elena Bogdan.
2009

At the $50,000 tournament in Makarska, Halep began her campaign with wins over Ana Vrljić of Croatia and an upset victory over Ksenia Pervak. She defeated Anne Schaefer, 6–0, 6–0, and beat second seeded Arantxa Rus with a 6–4, 7–6 win to advance to the final. However, Halep fell to the top seed Tatjana Malek by a score of 6–1, 4–6, 6–4.

In May, she reached the quarterfinals at the Bucharest ITF $100,000 tournament, losing to German Andrea Petkovic 6–2, 7–6. Later that month, she made her first attempt to qualify for a senior Grand Slam tournament at Roland Garros. She defeated 17th seed Michaëlla Krajicek, 6–4, 7–5 in her first match, but fell to Vitalia Diatchenko, 2–6, 6–1, 6–3 in the following round.

At 17 years old, Halep decided that her large bust was interfering with her game. She underwent mastopexy to reduce her bust size to 34C from 34DD. There was wide criticism of her decision to reduce her bust in order to improve her game. Fans petitioned her to reconsider her decision. She responded, saying, "It’s the weight that troubles me. My ability to react quickly, my breasts make me uncomfortable when I play. I don’t like them in my everyday life, either. I would have gone for surgery even if I hadn’t been a sportswoman." She also experienced back pain. She revealed her reduced bust size at the French Open in May 2010. Since the surgery, she has moved up 450 places in the world rankings.

In August, Halep won the $25,000 tournament in Maribor, defeating top seed Katalin Marosi of Hungary in the final 6–4, 6–2.


In January she entered the Australian Open, but lost to Stéphanie Foretz of France 6–4, 4–6, 6–4 in the first round of qualifying.

She was as of April 5, 2010 ranked 166th in the world.

Her breakthrough on the WTA tour occurred during the 2010 Andalucia Tennis Experience on the clay courts of Marbella, Spain. As a qualifier, she advanced to the quarterfinals with wins over world #70 Iveta Benešová and world #36 Sorana Cîrstea. She then put up a fight against world No.16 Flavia Pennetta, but was finally beaten by the No. 2 seed 6–4, 7–6.

Halep then qualified for the 2010 Barcelona Ladies Open by winning 3 matches, but was defeated in the first round of the main draw by Carla Suárez Navarro 6–4, 3–6, 6–3.

Halep's impressive form continued into the 2010 Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem in Fes. Seeded first in the qualifying round, she qualified by defeating Nathalie Vierin 4–6, 6–1, 6–3 and Estrella Cabeza Candela 6–1, 6–1. In the first round she defeated No. 8 seed Lucie Hradecká 7–5, 6–1. In the second round she feated Olga Savchuk 6–3, 6–1 before causing a big upset in the quarter-finals where she defeated No. 2 seed and former top 10 player Patty Schnyder 6–2, 7–6. In the semi-final she defeated Renata Voráčová 7–5, 6–4 to advance to her first WTA Tour Tournament final. But she lost to Voráčová's Czech compatriot Iveta Benešová 4–6, 2–6 in final.

In May 2010 Halep qualified for the French Open, defeating Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6–4, 6–7, 6–4 in the final round of qualifying. She was defeated 7–5, 6–1 in the first round by seventh seed Samantha Stosur.

In August 2010 Halep faced Jelena Janković at the US Open in the first round. Halep had a chance to win an upset victory over Jankovic but was broken while serving for the set at 5–4 in the third. In the end, Jankovic won 6–4, 4–6, 7–5.


In January, she reached the quarterfinals in the 2011 ASB Classic defeating Ayumi Morita and Elena Vesnina, but losing to the second seed, Yanina Wickmayer. She would go then to the 2011 Moorilla Hobart International but she would lose in the third qualifying round, in a decisive set against Magdaléna Rybáriková.

At the 2011 Australian Open, Halep qualified for the first time in her career in the third round of a tennis Grand Slam on seniors, beating the 24th seed Alisa Kleybanova 6–4, 7–6 before losing in straight sets to the 12th seed Agnieszka Radwańska and not progressing to the fourth round. In April at the 2010 Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem, she repeated her prior year's accomplishment of reaching the finals but lost to Alberta Brianti 3–6, 4–6.

At the 2011 Estoril Open, she was defeated in the first round by the eventual champion Anabel Medina Garrigues 6–7, 6–7.

At the 2011 French Open, Halep beat Alla Kudryavtseva 6–2, 6–1, then lost 0–6, 2–6 to 8th seed Samantha Stosur in the second round. In the 2011 Wimbledon Championships, Halep defeated Bojana Jovanovski 6–1, 6–2 before falling to 7th seed Serena Williams 6–3, 2–6, 1–6 in the second round.

For the 2011 BCR Open Romania Ladies, Halep was top seeded and progressed to the semi-finals, defeating Maša Zec Peškirič, Lenka Juríková and Alexandra Cadanţu en route. However, she lost to Laura Pous Tió in the semi-finals 0–6, 0–3.

Halep qualified for the main draw at the 2011 Rogers Cup in Toronto but drew 12th-seeded (and 15th-ranked) Svetlana Kuznetsova as her first opponent. After dropping the first set, Halep came back to win 4–6, 6–4, 6–3 in a 2:14 long match that saw Kuznetsova make 50 unforced errors. It was Halep's first victory over a top-20 ranked player. She lost to Lucie Safarova in the second round 2–6, 4–6.

At the 2011 US Open, Halep was placed in the main draw but drew Li Na in the first round. Despite playing with an ankle sprain she had suffered in Toronto earlier in the month, Halep defeated the 6th-seeded Li 6–2, 7–5 in a match that saw Li make 54 unforced errors to Halep's 19. It was Halep's first win over a top-10 ranked player. She lost in the second round to Carla Suarez Navarro 3–6, 6–2, 6–2.

In October at the BGL Luxembourg Open, Halep faced Kimiko Date-Krumm in the first round and defeated the former fourth-ranked world player 6–4, 7–5. She fell in the second round to Anastasija Sevastova 6–2, 6–2

Halep lost in the first round of the 2012 Australian Open after making the quarterfinals at Hobart. She then made it to the 3rd round of the 2012 Indian Wells Masters and the 2012 Miami Masters. Halep then went on to make the quarterfinals in Barcelona and the semifinals at Fes. She was beaten in Madrid and Rome by Venus Williams in the first round of both tournaments.

Halep played at the 2012 Brussels Open in a tune up for the 2012 French Open. She shocked former World No. 1 Jelena Jankovic in the first round, and rallied against #4 seed Dominika Cibulkova in the quarterfinals from a set down to advance to the semifinals of the WTA Premier event.

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org