Simona Halep Wins 2013 New Haven Open At Yale

Simona Halep (click to enlarge)

The rollercoaster ride of being a Petra Kvitova fan continues. One day after watching her show flashes of perfection in the 2013 New Haven Open at Yale semifinals, the former WTA Player of the Year was erratic and error-prone in the final against rising star Simona Halep. I do give Halep credit. After all, this is her fourth title of the year, won on three different surfaces. The New Haven title is Simona’s first Premier level championship. On Monday, she will be ranked in the top 20 (#19) for the first time in her career. Simona took out four-time New Haven champion Caroline Wozniacki in the semis and denied defending champion Kvitova in the final. She now has beaten 5 top 10 players this year. Is she a threat at the US Open? I would say she is a threat to pull off an upset perhaps. I still need to see more before I say she can make a run to the semis in a Major. As for Petra…wow. She is just so hard to predict. She can be brilliant one day and break your heart the next. The Kvitova that showed up in the New Haven semis can win the US Open. The Kvitova that showed up in the New Haven final might not make it out of the first week of the US Open. We’ll see which one appears at Flushing Meadow.