Romania’s Simona Halep, second best tennis player on clay in the world

Romanian tennis ace Simona Halep, who recently fell to sixth in the WTA ranking of the best women’s tennis players in the world, has had some of the best clay court results over the last three seasons. The Romanian ranks second in the WTA clay court power rankings, with 2491.25 points gained on this surface. Only the world number 1 Serena Williams ranks higher, with 3364.25 points. The ranking was made just a few days before this year’s French Open, the biggest tennis tournament on clay, where Halep will be among the favorites. “The former French Open Junior champion benefits from her fantastic 2014 clay season, where she made the final of Madrid and the French Open as well as her title-run in Madrid this year. If she can handle any changing expectations after Madrid, she’ll be in good form in Paris,” WTA writes. The top ten continues with Angelique Kerber, Petra Kvitova, Lucie Safarova, Crala Suarez Navarro, Sara Errani, Ana Ivanovic, Garbine Muguruza, and Madison Keys. Roland Garros, the second Grand Slam of the year, will take place between May 22 and June 5 in Paris. Romanian tennis legend Ilie Nastase was recently selected to be part of Eurosport’s team of consultants for this year’s edition of the tournament. When asked about Halep's chances at Roland Garros, he said she may win if the other big players are eliminated in the early rounds of the competition, so she can get a clear path to the final, according to local Libertatea.ro. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com