Simona Halep wins Budapest tennis title

No. 3 seed Simona Halep conquered her third WTA title of the year, and of her career, by defeating Yvonne Meusburger of Austria 6-3, 6-7(7), 6-1 to win the USD 235,000 Hungarian Grand Prix WTA International women's tennis tournament at the Romai Tennis Academy Sunday.

In the first set, Halep, 30^th in the world rankings, placed precise shots inside the line to move the Austrian across the court.

In the second set, Meusburger, 112^th, played more consistently and Halep had to come back from 3-5 down. The Romanian squandered three match points before the set went to a tie break that was won by Meusburger.

In the third set, Halep concentrated more, played drop shots with a 100-percent success rate and broke Meusburger’s serve three times to take the set and the match.

‘It was a very difficult match because Yvonne played very good, especially in the second set when I also made a lot of mistakes. Then, I changed tactics, applied more drop shots and that worked,” Halep told the Associated Press.

This is Halep’s third WTA title this year and of her career, as well. She received USD 40,000 prize money and 280 points in the WTA world rankings. Meusburger received USD 20,000 and 200 points.