Simona Halep is one of the all-time greats in tennis, and she’s an even bigger legend in her home country of Romania. And beyond all the top line numbers—two Grand Slam titles, 23 career WTA titles, 64 career weeks at No. 1—there’s another stat that illustrates just how well she handles pressure.
Halep is now 17-0 in her career in tour-level matches against fellow Romanians, after a 6-3, 6-2 win over Elena-Gabriela Ruse in the second round of Dubai today.
Halep’s win over Ruse was also her 250th career tour-level win on hard courts.
HALEP VS FELLOW ROMANIANS (tour-level):
~ d. Cirstea in 2010 Marbella 2nd Rd, 6-4, 7-6 (4)
~ d. Begu in 2012 Hobart 2nd Rd, 6-4, 6-2
~ d. Cadantu in 2012 Fes 2nd Rd, 6-2, 7-5
~ d. Niculescu in 2012 Brussels 2nd Rd, 6-1, 6-1
~ d. Cadantu in 2013 Budapest SFs, 6-2, 7-6 (1)
~ d. Niculescu in 2014 Bucharest SFs, 6-2, 4-6, 6-1
~ d. Dulgheru in 2015 Rome QFs, 6-1, 6-0
~ d. Begu in 2016 Madrid QFs, 6-3, 0-6, 6-1
~ d. Begu in 2016 Wuhan 2nd Rd, 6-3, 2-0 ret.
~ d. Begu in 2018 Shenzhen SFs, 6-1, 6-4
~ d. Buzarnescu in 2019 Wimbledon 2nd Rd, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2
~ d. Begu in 2020 Prague SFs, 7-6 (2), 6-3
~ d. Begu in 2020 Roland Garros 2nd Rd, 6-3, 6-4
~ d. Ruse in 2021 Cluj-Napoca-2 1st Rd, 6-1, 6-2
~ d. Cristian in 2021 Cluj-Napoca-2 QFs, 6-1, 6-1
~ d. Ruse in 2022 Melbourne-1 2nd Rd, 6-2, 6-1
~ d. Ruse in 2022 Dubai 2nd Rd, 6-3, 6-2
She isn’t just 17-0 in matches, she’s also 34-3 in sets, only dropping sets to Niculescu in 2014, Begu in 2016 and Buzarnescu in 2019—each of those were middle sets, and Halep would rebound to win the third set easily every time.
Halep is 34-4 in her career against fellow Romanians across all levels, her last loss to one of her countrywomen at any level coming against Sorana Cirstea 11 and a half years ago in 2010 Cincinnati qualifying.