By Chris Oddo | Monday October 15, 2018
Simona Halep clinched the No.1 ranking for the second consecutive year on Monday, but she may not be able to finish the season in style.
Photo Source: Cameron Spencer/Getty
Simona Halep has locked down the WTA’s year-end No.1 ranking—again! The Romanian will finish the season at No.1 for the second consecutive season regardless of what happens at this week’s events and next week’s WTA Finals.
Halep heads into this week’s Kremlin Cup in Moscow with a 46-11 record and three titles to her name in 2018. She won Roland Garros, rallying from a set and break down to defeat Sloane Stephens and claim her first major title. She also won titles in Shenzhen and Montreal, which brought her career title count to 18.
Halep reached the final at the Australian Open as well, losing to Caroline Wozniacki in a three-set final.
Halep, who held the No.1 ranking for all but four weeks in 2018, is still unsure about the status of her back and hinted that she may not be able to play at next week’s WTA Finals in Singapore.
““I haven’t practiced 100 percent yet but today, tomorrow, I will do close to 100,” Halep said in a conference call, according to the AP, “and I will be able to know better the next day. If I can’t play [in Moscow] I’m very doubtful that I will be able to play in Singapore because it’s so soon. I don’t know now, but for sure I will take a decision for my health first.”
Halep says she has been waking up in fear each morning, hoping that the symptoms of the herniated disc in her back would start to reside.
Halep is slated to play Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in second-round action (after her first-round bye) in Moscow. That match will be played on Wednesday.