Romanian tennis player Simona Halep wins Qatar Total Open

Romania's tennis ace Simona Halep has won the Qatar Total Open in Doha, her first Premier 5 win. She beat German tennis player Angelique Kerber, 6-2, 6-3, after a one hour-game. This pushed her to the 9th place WTA, from her previous 10th position ranking. This is her seventh WTA tour win, after winning the Nürnberg,Hertogenbosch, Budapest, New Haven, Moscow and Sofia tours, all in 2013. The recent Doha win brought her a cash prize of USD 441,000, and 900 WTA points. Halep was recently included among the 10 Future Stars in Sport by the magazine Eurosport Now. The 10 young prospects were selected by a jury made of Eurosport’s commentators and pundits for Eurosport Now, the magazine which marks Eurosport’s 25-year anniversary. Last year Halep was named Women’s Tennis Association’s Most Improved Player Of The Year. Simona Halep has recently cracked the top 10 best players in the world, moving up one spot in the Women’s Tennis Association rankings. The promotion comes after Halep made her first quarterfinal appearance in a grand slam at the Australian Open, unfortunately going down to Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova. editor@romania-insider.com