Simona Halep eases past Dominika Cibulkova to win Madrid Open
Saturday 7 May 2016 20:52, UK
Simona Halep claimed her first tournament for more than a year thanks to a 6-2 6-4 victory over Dominika Cibulkova in the final of the Madrid Open.
The Romanian, whose last win came at Indian Wells in 2015, denied Cibulkova what would have been a belated 27th birthday present and a second title of the season.
Halep needed only half an hour to ease through the first set, breaking Cibulkova's vulnerable service on two occasions.
The second set proved a little tighter but the sixth seed only needed a single break to secure the 12th WTA Tour title of her career.
"The most important thing is that I played good tennis here. My best actually, my best level," said Halep.
"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."
It was amazing on court. I just want to keep that feeling for long time."
Halep's victory will see her move up from seventh to fifth in the world when the next set of rankings are published on Monday.
