In her neighboring country of Bulgaria, Romanian Simona Halep crowned a breakthrough season with the Garanti Koza WTA Tournament of Champions title.
After winning 25 of the last 32 points to rebound in her semifinal against Ana Ivanovic, the top-seeded Halep did the same in the final, scoring 20 of the last 26 points to recover against Samantha Stosur for a 2-6 6-2 6-2 victory.
The new world No.11 Halep had lost all three of her WTA finals prior to this season, but since clinching the Nürnberg title in June, the Romanian piled up five more WTA titles – ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Budapest, New Haven, Moscow and now Sofia. Impressive! (photo: © Neal Trousdale)
Well done Simona! A great ending to a super season. Looking forward to having her in the Top 10 next year hopefully, and an even better season next year!
Wow, congrats to Simona! What a year, seemingly out of nowhere. I know years of hard work contributed, but what a strong 2013 season!