Romania’s Simona Halep returns to WTA's top 5 after Madrid Open win

Romania’s tennis ace Simona Halep went up two places in the WTA ranking of the best women’s tennis players in the world. She is now at number 5, with 4,650 points. It is the first time this year when Simona Halep goes up in the WTA rankings. She ended 2015 in the second place, but went down to third after this year’s Australian Open, and then fell to fourth later in February. Her fall didn't stop there. She went down to fifth at the end of February and seventh in late April. Halep returned in the top 5 after winning the Mutua Madrid Open last weekend, one of the top WTA tournaments. American Serena Williams tops the ranking with 8,235 points, followed by German Angelique Kerber – 5,740 points, Polish Agnieszka Radwanska – 5,665 points, and Spanish Garbine Muguruza - 4,847 points. Romania has four other players in the top 100, namely Monica Niculescu (34th), Irina-Camelia Begu (35th), Alexandra Dulgheru (98th), and Sorana Cirstea (99th). Cirstea returned into Top 100 after more than a year, after she made good on a wild card from the tournament's organizers to reach the quarter finals. 26-year old Sorana Cirstea, who reached the 21st place in the WTA ranking in August 2013, fell out of the Top 100 in early-2015, after a shoulder injury forced her to take a pause. Last week was a great one for the Romanian sports. While Simona Halep and Horia Tecau won the women’s singles and men’s doubles competitions in Madrid, CSM Bucharest won the women’s handball Champions League, this being the biggest performance for the Romanian women’s handball in over 50 years. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com (Photo source: Mutua Madrid Open on Facebook)