Romanian tennis star Simona Halep maintains her second place in the WTA ranking of the best women’s tennis players in the world, after she made it to the semifinals of the US Open, this year’s last Grand Slam tournament.

Halep got 780 WTA points, reaching 6,780 points in the WTA ranking. She’s second to Serena Williams, who has 11,501 points, as of September 14.

Serena Williams and Simona Halep were the big favorites of this year’s US Open. They were expected to meet in the final after they both made it to the tournament’s semifinals. Yet, both of them lost in the semis.

Simona Halep lost to Italian Flavia Pennetta, who went on and won her first Grand Slam title at 33. Pennetta announced that she would retire at the end of this season.

Serena Williams lost to another Italian, Roberta Vinci, and lost a big opportunity to make her first Grand Slam, after victories at the Australian Open, Roland Garros, and Wimbledon this year.

For Simona Halep, reaching the US Open semifinals was one of the best results this year. She won some USD 790,000 and topped USD 10 million prize money in her career.

Halep also qualified for the WTA Finals in Shanghai, a top tournament that brings together the best eight tennis players in the world this year.

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editor@romania-insider.com