Simona Halep has won her second WTA Premier Mandatory title after brushing aside Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 6-2, in the final of the Madrid Open.
The world No.7 was the clear favourite going into the final against the Slovakian underdog, who is the lowest ranked player to reach a final of a Premier Mandatory event since the inception of the WTA Roadmap in 2009.
Halep booked her place in the final after producing a stunning display against Sam Stosur in the semifinals. She continued her fine form against Cibulkova as she bossed the Slovak around the court to break immediately in the first game of the set. The surge in Halep’s form continued with a sensational returned that gifted her a double break. The only flaw in her otherwise faultless set was when Halep went down 0-40 whilst serving for the first set. Impressively, the world No.7 saved all three break points before sealing the set with a serve out wide that forced Cibulkova to return the ball to the net.
The Halep charge continued at the start of the second set when a poor approach at the net from Cibulkova gave her three more chances to grab her third break of the match. The break was converted with another forehand winner from the Romanian. The Halep dominance subsided during a marathon fourth game of the second set, which consisted of five deuces. Despite Cibulkova’s best efforts, Halep held on to maintain her lead. After surviving the tough service game, she eased to the title with little difficulty as an ace secured her maiden Madrid title.
In her dominating 80-minute performance, the 24-year-old produced 20 winners compared to just 10 unforced errors. In addition, Halep also won 7/10 points at the net and she won 69% of her service points.
“I’m really happy that I won this tournament. It’s a very special tournament for me and I have a special feeling right now,” the newly crowned champion said.
“The most important thing is that I played good tennis here, my best level actually. It was amazing on the court. I just want to keep that feeling for a long time.”
Romanian tennis players have a special connection with the tournament. Besides the high volume of Romanian attendees at this years event, the tournament iself is owned by Romanian businessman Ion Tirac.
After a tough start to her season, Halep feels that she is finally seeing improvements in her game, both physically and mentally.
“Day by day I play better tennis. That has helped me a lot to improve in myself and become more confident,” Halep said.
“I was feeling great. This could be why I have won all of my matches in two sets this week.”
There will be little time for celebration for Halep, who will begin her Rome Open campaign on Wednesday. Last year she reached the semifinal at the tournament, meaning that she will have a lot of points to defend next week. Despite this, points are currently the last thing on her mind.
“It’s going to be tough to go to Rome, to be honest, but I just want to enjoy this moment right now. I’m not thinking about points,” she said.
“This week I didn’t think about points.I just wanted to play.”
Halep will take a couple days off as rest before she prepares for Rome.
.@Simona_Halep adds her name to an illustrious list of @MutuaMadridOpen former champions. https://t.co/kRsZ9udpkC pic.twitter.com/U3nTDkWLGk
— TennisTV (@TennisTV) 7 May 2016
The win comes only three years after she was awarded a wildcard into the tournament, losing in the first round. Since that early exit, Halep has suffered a final loss to Maria Sharapova in 2014 followed by another first round exit in 2015 (losing to Alize Cornet).
The triumph gives Halep the first title of her season and the 12th of her career. She will now overtake Victoria Azarenka and become fifth in the WTA rankings.
