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Draft:2022 Simona Halep tennis season

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2022 Simona Halep tennis season
Full nameSimona Halep
Country Romania
Calendar prize money$2.25 million
Singles
Season record39–11
Calendar titles2
Year-end ranking10
Ranking change from previous yearIncrease 10
Grand Slam & significant results
Australian Open4R
French Open2R
WimbledonSF
US Open1R
Other tournaments
Doubles
Calendar titles0
Ranking change from previous yearSteady
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open1R
French OpenA
WimbledonA
US OpenA
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Australian OpenA
French OpenA
WimbledonA
US OpenA
Last updated on: 17 March 2023.

The 2022 Simona Halep tennis season officially began on 4 January 2022 at the Melbourne Summer Set 1. Simona Halep entered the season as the No. 20 ranked player in the world and finished the year as the world No. 10, ending it with 2 WTA titles.

Season highlights

[edit]

Before starting the 2022 season, Simona Halep faced a tough 2021 season due to multiple injuries, including a severe left calf tear sustained in May at Rome Masters. ⁤[1] ⁤These injuries impacted her participation in several tournaments, missing two Grand Slams,[2] including the failure of defending the 2019 title at Wimbledon Championships.[3] ⁤As a result of these factors, Simona Halep experienced a significant fall in the rankings, dropping out of the top 10 in WTA rankings for the first time in seven years by August 2021,[4] hence, she entered the season at a lower ranking than usual, peaking at 20.

Halep made a impeccable start of the season, as she wins the first tournament of the season at Melbourne Summer Set 1 by defeating the Russian Veronika Kudermetova at the score of 6–2, 6–3, breaking the title drought since 2020. Additionally, it was her first title won in Australia.

During the first Grand Slam of the year, Australian Open, Halep registered three wins, beating en-route to the 4th round Magdalena Fręch, Beatriz Haddad Maia and Danka Kovinić. In the last 16, she met Alizé Cornet, which appeared to be a tough match condition-wise, both players struggling with the Australian heat, however, the French pulled through in three fierce sets.

Entering the Middle East as an unseeded player, Halep went there without a coach after she parted ways with Daniel Dobre and Adrian Marcu after the outcome of Australian Open.[5] At the Dubai Tennis Chmapionships, she registered her very first top-10 win of the season since 2020, beating the newly-entered top-ten player Ons Jabeur in two sets in the last 8. Subsequently, she was defeated in the semifinals by Jeļena Ostapenko, losing 6 games in a row in the last set. Not much history happened at Qatar Open, as she lost to Caroline Garcia in the first round. After that loss, she leaves the top 25, dropping to the ranking of 27.

Coming back to the Sunshine Double, Halep had to defend only 3rd round points from last year. At Indian Wells, she received a first-round bye, because she has been granted the 24th seed. In the first rounds, she fought Ekaterina Alexandrova and the 16th seed Coco Gauff before facing her fellow Romanian Sorana Cîrstea in the 4th round, thus meaning that the winner of the match would become the Romanian No. 1, nevertheless, Halep continued her streak of defeating Romanians, reaching the count of 18 consecutive wins against them. Eventually, she would end up into her third semifinal of the 2022, where she had to face the future No. 1, the third seed Iga Świątek. Even if Halep had chances to close the first set, she ultimately helped the Polish to construct a fascinating win streak during the year, losing in straight sets.

At Miami Open, Halep unfortunately withdrew before the tournament due to a thigh injury sustained during the semifinal match at the Indian Wells.[6] his would also mean that she would not play at the Billie Jean King Cup. In the next weeks she would announce that Patrick Mouratoglou will be her full-time mentor for the rest of the year, as she continued to train in his academy.[7]

Starting the clay season in a left tone, she withdrew from Charleston Open due to leg injury, having the intention of playing there for the first time ever.[8]

Halep comes back at Madrid Open after a two-month hiatus. She produces the upset of the tournament in the second round against the world no. 2 Paula Badosa, losing only four games. By winning this match, Simona Halep got her third top-2 win since 2016, where she defeated Angelique Kerber at Canadian Open. Once again, she faced Coco Gauff in the last 16, winning in two sets, and Ons Jabeur, where she had been overcome by the Tunisian in straight sets. Jabeur would eventually become the champion of the tournament. Afterwards, Halep entered Italian Open, and she took revenge against Alizé Cornet from the Australian Open match-up earlier this year. Nonetheless, she got struck by Danielle Collins in the next round, finishing the match almost midnight.

Roland Garros for Halep ended to be a dissapointment, as she loses in the second round against Zheng Qinwen, suffering from a panic attack in the course of the match.[9]

Immediately, Halep enters two WTA 250 tournaments: Birmingham Classic and Bad Homburg Open, where she reached semifinals in both ocassions, where she got defeated by Beatriz Haddad Maia, and offered a walkover to Bianca Andreescu, respectively.

At Wimbledon, being seeded 16th, she wins the encounters against Karolína Muchová, Kirsten Flipkens and Magdalena Fręch in the first three rounds. In the last 16, Halep gets her third top–10 win, once again beating Paula Badosa, letting the Spaniard to get only three games throughout the match. In the last eight, she continued her good form against Amanda Anisimova, registering her first Grand Slam semifinal since 2020. Elena Rybakina gets the best of the Romanian in the semifinal, where Halep mainly struggled with her serve, producing nine double faults. Rybakina would become the Wimbledon champion two days later. As the result of this performance, Simona Halep was set to re-enter the top 10 after almost an year, however the All England Club and the Committee of Management of The Championships announced that that ranking points will not be awarded for Wimbledon 2022, due to ban of Russian and Belarusian players at this event, which affected many players performance in the WTA ranking.[10]

Her next tournament was Washington Open, where she couldn't deal with the heat, feeling nauseous in the second round against Anna Kalinskaya. Subsequently, she withdrew in the middle of the match.

Halep's second triumph came from Toronto, where she picked up the wins against Donna Vekić, Zhang Shuai, Jil Teichmann, Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula and Beatriz Haddad Maia. In the semifinal match against Pegula she gets another top-10 win of the season. By getting this title, she wins for the third time, and the first one in Toronto, previously having successful runs in both 2016 and 2018 in Montreal. Also, Halep gets her ninth WTA 1000 title and 24th title overall. Ultimately, she set a new record of having 185 wins at WTA 1000 level tournaments since its implementation in 2009. She also jumped nine spots higher in the rankings, reaching sixth place, right behind Świątek, Kontaveit, Sakkari, Badosa and Jabeur.

Cincinnati Open was cut short for Halep. Right after defeating Anastasia Potapova in demanding three sets, she withdraws in the second round, citing fatigue after winning Toronto.

Finally entering as a top-10 player at a Grand Slam, Halep was seeded 7th at the US Open. However, she did not stay for long, as the qualifier Daria Snigur produces the upset against the Romanian. This marked another first round loss for Halep at US Championships, producing a negative result at the US Open for the third time in five years.

After the US Open, Halep has ended the 2022 season, as she sustained a nose surgery, stating that she had "trouble with breathing properly".

On October 21st, International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) announces that Simona Halep has failed a drug test during US Open, where she was tested positively to Roxadustat, a banned substance that increases endogenous production of erythropoietin and stimulates production of hemoglobin and red blood cells. Subsequently, she was provisionally suspended from playing any official match.[11] Halep will not have the trial until late June 2023, after she got a second interdiction, now based on the Athlete biological passport (ABP) programme, showing irregularities in her ABP.[12] On September 11th 2023, the Independent Tribunal, Sports Resolutions, reached a conclusion and sanctions Halep for TADP breaches with a four-year ban.[13] The Romanian would eventually appeal the result at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). On March 5th 2024, her ban would drastically decrease from four years to nine months, CAS dismissing the ABP breach and reducing the Roxadustat charge.[14]

All matches

[edit]
Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# P# DNQ A Z# PO G S B NMS NTI P NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (P#) preliminary round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (S) silver or (B) bronze Olympic/Paralympic medal; (NMS) not a Masters tournament; (NTI) not a Tier I tournament; (P) postponed; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.

Singles matches

[edit]
Tournament Match Round Opponent Rank Result Score
Melbourne Summer Set l
Melbourne, Australia
WTA 250
Hard, outdoor
4–9 January 2022
1 1R Australia Destanee Aiava (Q) 316 Win 6–2, 6–4
2 2R Romania Elena-Gabriela Ruse 87 Win 6–2, 6–1
3 QF Switzerland Viktorija Golubic (6) 43 Win 6–2, 5–7, 6–4
4 SF China Zheng Qinwen (Q) 125 Win 6–3, 6–2
5 W Russia Veronika Kudermetova (3) 31 Win (1) 6–2, 6–3
Australian Open
Melbourne, Australia
Grand Slam
Hard, outdoor
17–29 January 2022
6 1R Poland Magdalena Fręch 102 Win 6–3, 6–4
7 2R Brazil Beatriz Haddad Maia 83 Win 6–2, 6–0
8 3R Montenegro Danka Kovinić 98 Win 6–2, 6–1
9 4R France Alizé Cornet 61 Loss 4–6, 6–3, 4–6
Dubai Tennis Championships
Dubai, UAE
WTA 500
Hard, outdoor
14–19 February 2022
10 1R United States Alison Riske (WC) 53 Win 6–2, 6–4
11 2R Romania Elena-Gabriela Ruse (Q) 59 Win 6–3, 6–2
12 QF Tunisia Ons Jabeur (8) 10 Win 6–4, 6–3
13 SF Latvia Jeļena Ostapenko 21 Loss 6–2, 6–7(0–7), 0–6
Qatar Open
Doha, Qatar
WTA 1000
Hard, outdoor
20–26 February 2022
14 1R France Caroline Garcia (WC) 76 Loss 4–6, 3–6
Indian Wells Open
Indian Wells, United States
WTA 1000
Hard, outdoor
9–20 March 2022
1R Bye
15 2R Ekaterina Alexandrova [a] 52 Win 6–2, 4–6, 6–2
16 3R United States Coco Gauff (16) 17 Win 6–3, 6–4
17 4R Romania Sorana Cîrstea (26) 27 Win 6–1, 6–4
18 QF Croatia Petra Martić (Q) 79 Win 6–1, 6–1
19 SF Poland Iga Świątek (3) 4 Loss 6–7(8–6), 4–6
Madrid Open
Madrid, Spain
WTA 1000
Clay, outdoor
28 April–7 May 2022
20 1R China Zhang Shuai 40 Win 6–2, 6–3
21 2R Spain Paula Badosa (2) 2 Win 6–3, 6–1
22 3R United States Coco Gauff (14) 16 Win 6–4, 6–4
23 QF Tunisia Ons Jabeur (8) 10 Loss 3–6, 2–6
Italian Open
Rome, Italy
WTA 1000
Clay, outdoor
8–15 May 2022
24 1R France Alizé Cornet 39 Win 6–4, 6–4
25 2R United States Danielle Collins (7) 9 Loss 6–7(1–7), 3–6
French Open
Paris, France
Grand Slam
Clay, outdoor
22 May – 4 June 2022
26 1R Germany Nastasja Schunk (LL) 165 Win 6–4, 1–6, 6–1
27 2R China Qinwen Zheng 74 Loss 6–2, 2–6, 1–6
Birmingham Classic
Birmingham, United Kingdom
WTA 250
Grass, outdoor
13–19 June 2022
28 1R Ukraine Lesia Tsurenko (Q) 116 Win 6–2, 6–4
29 2R United Kingdom Harriet Dart (WC) 106 Win 6–3, 6–2
30 QF United Kingdom Katie Boulter (WC) 14 Win 6–4, 6–1
31 SF Brazil Beatriz Haddad Maia 32 Loss 3–6, 6–2, 4–6
Bad Homburg Open
Bad Homburg, Germany
WTA 250
Grass, outdoor
19–25 June 2022
32 1R Czech Republic Kateřina Siniaková 63 Win 4–6, 6–3, 6–4
33 2R Slovenia Tamara Zidanšek 58 Win 6–0, 6–3
34 QF United States Amanda Anisimova (6) 25 Win 6–2, 6–1
SF Canada Bianca Andreescu 64 W/O N/A
Wimbledon Championships
London, UK
Grand Slam
Grass, outdoor
27 June – 9 July 2022
35 1R Czech Republic Karolína Muchová 81 Win 6–3, 6–2
36 2R Belgium Kirsten Flipkens (PR) 190 Win 7–5, 6–4
37 3R Poland Magdalena Fręch 92 Win 6–4, 6–1
38 4R Spain Paula Badosa 4 Win 6–1, 6–2
39 QF United States Amanda Anisimova (20) 25 Win 6–2, 6–4
40 SF Kazakhstan Elena Rybakina (17) 23 Loss 3–6, 3–6
Washington Open
Washington, D.C., USA
WTA 250
Hard, outdoor
1–7 August 2022
41 1R Spain Cristina Bucșa (Q) 123 Win 6–3, 7–5
42 2R Anna Kalinskaya [a] 71 Loss 5–7, 0–2 ret.
Canadian Open
Toronto, Canada
WTA 1000
Hard, outdoor
6–14 August 2022
43 1R Croatia Donna Vekić (LL) 82 Win 6–0, 6–2
44 2R China Zhang Shuai 45 Win 6–4, 6–2
45 3R Switzerland Jil Teichmann 21 Win 6–2, 7–5
46 QF United States Coco Gauff (10) 11 Win 6–4, 7–6(7–2)
47 SF United States Jessica Pegula (7) 7 Win 2–6, 6–3, 6–4
48 W Brazil Beatriz Haddad Maia 24 Win (2) 6–3, 2–6, 6–3
Cincinnati Open
Cincinnati, US
WTA 1000
Hard, outdoor
15–21 August 2022
49 1R Anastasia Potapova [a] (LL) 54 Win 6–4, 3–6, 6–3
2R Veronika Kudermetova [a] 20 W/O N/A
U.S. Open
New York City, United States
Grand Slam
Hard, outdoor
29 August – 11 September 2022
50 1R Ukraine Daria Snigur (Q) 124 Loss 2–6, 6–0, 4–6

Tournament schedule

[edit]
Date Tournament Location Category Surface Previous
result
Previous
points
New
points
Outcome
4 January 2022 –
9 January 2022
Melbourne Summer Set 1 Australia WTA 250 Hard Not held 0 280 Winner defeated Russia Veronika Kudermetova
6–2, 6–3
17 January 2022 –
30 January 2022
Australian Open Australia Grand Slam Hard Quarterfinal 430 240 Fourth round lost to France Alizé Cornet
4–6, 6–3, 4–6
14 February 2022 –
20 February 2022
Dubai Tennis Championships United Arab Emirates WTA 500 Hard Did not play 0 185 Semifinals lost to Latvia Jeļena Ostapenko
6–2, 6–7(0–7), 0–6
21 February 2022 –
27 February 2022
Qatar Open Qatar WTA 1000 Hard Did not play 0 1 First round lost to France Caroline Garcia
4–6, 3–6
7 March 2022 –
20 March 2022
Indian Wells Open United States WTA 1000 Hard Third round 65 390 Semifinals lost to Poland Iga Świątek
6–7(6–8), 4–6
21 March 2022 –
3 April 2022
Miami Open United States WTA 1000 Hard Third round 65 0 Withdrew due to leg injury
18 April 2022 –
24 April 2022
Charleston Open United States WTA 500 Clay Did not play 0 0 Withdrew due to leg injury
7 March 2022 –
20 March 2022
Madrid Open Spain WTA 1000 Clay Third round 65 215 Quarterfinals lost to Tunisia Ons Jabeur
3–6, 2–6
9 May 2022 –
15 May 2022
Italian Open Italy WTA 1000 Clay Second round 1 60 Second round lost to United States Danielle Collins
6–7(1–7), 3–6
22 May 2022 –
5 June 2022
French Open France Grand Slam Clay Did not play 0 70 Second round lost to China Zheng Qinwen
6–2, 2–6, 1–6
13 June 2022 –
19 June 2022
Birmingham Classic United Kingdom WTA 250 Grass Did not play 0 180 Semifinals lost to Brazil Beatriz Haddad Maia
3–6, 6–2, 4–6
19 June 2022 –
25 June 2022
Bad Homburg Open Germany WTA 250 Grass Did not play 0 180 Semifinals withdrew to Canada Bianca Andreescu
N/A
27 June 2022 –
10 July 2022
Wimbledon Championships United Kingdom Grand Slam Grass Did not play 0 [b] Semifinals lost to Kazakhstan Elena Rybakina
3–6, 3–6
25 July 2022 –
31 July 2022
Washington Open United States WTA 250 Hard Did not play 0 30 Second round lost to Anna Kalinskaya[a]
5–7, 0–2 ret.
8 August 2022 –
14 August 2022
Canadian Open Canada WTA 1000 Hard Second round 1 900 Winner defeated Brazil Beatriz Haddad Maia
6–3, 2–6, 6–3
15 August 2022 –
21 August 2022
Cincinnati Open United States WTA 1000 Hard Second round 60 60 Second round withdrew to Veronika Kudermetova[a]
N/A
29 August 2022 –
11 September 2022
US Open United States Grand Slam Hard Fourth round 240 10 First round lost to Ukraine Daria Snigur
2–6, 6–0, 4–6
Total year-end points 2661

Yearly records

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Finals

[edit]

Singles: 2 (2 titles)

Legend
Grand Slam tournaments (0–0)
WTA Tour Championships (0–0)
WTA 1000 (1–0)
WTA 500 (0–0)
WTA 250 (1–0)
Finals by surface
Hard (2–0)
Clay (0–0)
Grass (0–0)
Titles by setting
Outdoors (2–0)
Indoors (0–0)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Win 1–0 Jan 2022 Melbourne Summer Set 1, Australia WTA 250 Hard Russia Veronika Kudermetova 6–2, 6−3
Win 2–0 Aug 2022 Canadian Open, Canada WTA 1000 Hard Brazil Beatriz Haddad Maia 6–3, 2–6, 6–3

Top 10 wins

[edit]
# Player Rank Tournament Surface Round Score SHR
1. Tunisia Ons Jabeur 10 Dubai Tennis Championships, Dubai, UAE Hard Quarterfinals 6–4, 6–3 23
2. Spain Paula Badosa 2 Madrid Open, Madrid, Spain Clay Second round 6–3, 6–1 21
3. Spain Paula Badosa 4 Wimbledon, London, UK Grass Fourth round 6–1, 6–2 18
4. United States Jessica Pegula 7 Canadian Open, Toronto, Canada Hard Semifinals 2–6, 6–3, 6–4 15

Head-to-head matchups

[edit]
Surface Win–loss Win%
Hard 23–6 79.31%
Clay 5–3 62.5%
Grass 11–2 84.62%
Overall 39–11 78%

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e f Russian and Belarusian athletes are not allowed to compete under the name or flag of their country following Russian invasion of Ukraine.[15]
  2. ^ Following the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club's decision to ban Russian and Belarusian players from the 2022 Wimbledon Championships due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the ITF, ATP, and WTA stripped the event of ranking points.[16]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Simona Halep sustains injury, retires in Rome". Tennis.com.
  2. ^ "Halep to miss Roland Garros due to injury". BBC.
  3. ^ "Defending women's singles champion withdraws from Wimbledon Championships". Sky Sports.
  4. ^ "Simona Halep out from WTA top 10". tennisnet.
  5. ^ "Halep leaving coaches behind, experiences freedom in Middle East". The National News.
  6. ^ "Halep set to miss Miami, out from tennis for 3 weeks". Reuters.
  7. ^ "Patrick Mouratoglou becomes Simona Halep's coach". Tennis.com.
  8. ^ "Halep misses Miami, Charleston, Billie Jean King Cup". Yahoo AU.
  9. ^ "Simona Halep could not focus at Roland Garros, suffers panic attack". CNN.
  10. ^ "No points at Wimbledon, WTA and ATP confirms AELTC announcement". Eurosport.
  11. ^ Futterman, Matthew (21 October 2022). "Halep fails drug test, gets provisionally suspended". The New York Times.
  12. ^ "Halep ABP charge". ITIA.
  13. ^ "Halep is banned for four years". ITIA.
  14. ^ "CAS upholds Simona Halep's appeal". Court of Arbitration for Sport.
  15. ^ "Joint Statement by the International Governing Bodies of Tennis". WTA Tennis. March 1, 2022. Retrieved March 1, 2022.
  16. ^ "Statement from Steve Simon on UK grass-court events". WTA Tennis. 20 May 2022. Retrieved 20 May 2022.