Romania's star tennis player Simona Halep, currently number 5 WTA, the highest ranking held by a Romanian tennis player, had to withdraw from the ongoing Miami tournament as she has injured her right toe and had surgery just before the start of the tournament.

She was supposed to play against Australia's Casey Dellacqua late last week. Halep was the only Romanian in the tournament.

The Romanian was recently knocked out of the Indian Wells Masters in California, going down to Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska 6-3, 6-4 in the semi-finals. Despite missing out on the final of the BNP Paribas Open, Halep jumped two WTA ranking positions, moving to number 5 in the world – the highest position ever reached by a Romanian in the WTA.

The previous best by a Romanian woman was No. 7 by Irina Spirlea in 1997. Among Romanian men, Ilie Nastase was ranked No. 1 in the mid-1970s.

editor@romania-insider.com