Simona Halep claims Madrid Open title, returns to the top five

Romania’s Simona Halep moved back into the world’s top five in the latest WTA rankings released on Monday, after claiming her first title in over a year at the Madrid Open.   Simona Halep sealed her first title in 14 months with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Dominika Cibulkova to claim the Madrid Open on Saturday. [caption id=“attachment_2772436” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Romania’s Simona Halep. AFP[/caption] Halep stormed through the first set in half an hour and needed just one break in the first game of the second to win her first tournament since Indian Wells last year. Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber has retaken the world number two spot from Agnieszka Radwanska despite a first-match defeat in Spain, after Poland’s Radwanska also bowed out early to eventual runner-up Dominika Cibulkova. Serena Williams retains her substantial lead at the top of the rankings, although it has been cut slightly after she withdrew from the Madrid tournament because of a virus. Swiss Timea Bacsinszky jumps into the top 10 after reaching the last 16. “The most important thing is that I played good tennis here. My best actually, my best level,” said Halep. “It was amazing on court. I just want to keep that feeling for long time.” After an inconsistent season, Halep looked close to the form that made her world number two last year and made the most of a collapsing field as she didn’t have to face a top ten player on her route to the title. “Day-by-day I played better tennis. That helped me a lot to improve mentally and to be more confident. “That’s why maybe I could win almost in two sets all the matches.” At 38 in the world, Cibulkova was the lowest player to reach a premier mandatory WTA tournament in seven years and she was blown away early on by the consistency and depth of Halep’s ground strokes. However, the Slovakian was keen to look on the bright side of a week that saw her rise to 26 in the world having been as low as 66 in February. “I don’t want this loss to get into the great feelings of this week,” said Cibulkova. “I just want to get some rest and prepare for Roland Garros because my game on clay really came together. “I didn’t get into Rome because there was my old ranking – 56 before I won Katowice – so I stayed last out and I withdraw from qualifying.” Halep won seven of the first eight points on her way to opening up a 5-1 lead. The 2014 French Open finalist then had to fend off three break points on her way to sealing the set 6-2, but immediately took control of the second by breaking in the opening game. Cibulkova had her chance to break back in a marathon 16-point fourth game, but Halep held on and then served out convincingly for the match in style with an ace for her 12th career title.