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More pleasure, less pressure

SINGAPORE — Life on the professional tennis tour has taken world No 3 Simona Halep to many exotic locales around the world, but Singapore will always hold a special place in her heart.

SINGAPORE — Life on the professional tennis tour has taken world No 3 Simona Halep to many exotic locales around the world, but Singapore will always hold a special place in her heart.

For it was here at last year’s WTA Finals Singapore that the 23-year-old claimed the biggest scalp of her career, achieving what many of the world’s best players have tried but failed to do: Defeat reigning world No 1 Serena Williams.

In a stylish performance full of poise and aggression, Halep dismantled the American 6-0, 6-2 in the group stage of the tournament to cement her status as one of the players to watch on the women’s tour.

But Williams, who went on to beat Halep in the final to clinch the title, has been unstoppable since. The 33-year-old has won the year’s first three Majors — the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon - and is eyeing her first-ever calendar year Grand Slam of all four titles by winning the US Open in September.

Despite Williams’ incredible form, Halep believes the 21-time Grand Slam champion is not unbeatable, and she is quietly confident of emerging victorious in a rematch on court.

Halep was in town today (July 22) for the launch of this year’s BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore at the ArtScience Musem at Marina Bay Sands, and she said: “It’s not going to be easy to beat Serena again because she’s winning everything this year. But if I did it once, I’m sure I can do it again.”

“You need to believe in yourself if you want to beat Serena, although it’s tough to get that belief at the beginning. Then you’ll have to play your best tennis and compete better than her because she’ll be there fighting for every ball and she doesn’t give up. So you’ll also need to stay strong mentally in all your matches. It’s definitely possible to beat her.”

Halep enjoyed a stellar start this year — she won three WTA titles including the Indian Wells Masters in March — but a recent dip in form, which culminated in a shock first-round loss to Jana Cepelova at Wimbledon last month, has slowed her progress on the WTA tour.

Following her disastrous showing at Wimbledon, she took a three-week break to ‘regroup and rebuild her confidence’.

“My first-round loss at Wimbledon was difficult for me and I was very disappointed that I was unable to repeat my good performance from last year, when I reached the semis.”

“I took a lot of pressure on my shoulders and I think that hindered me, so I’ll never do that again. I feel relaxed now and the only thing in my mind is to play with less pressure and with more pleasure. I’m focused on trying to earn the points needed to qualify for the WTA Finals.”

Halep is still on the hunt for her first Grand Slam title, and she is hoping it will happen at Roland Garros, as she added: “I want to win any Grand Slam, and it doesn’t matter which one. But the French Open is my favourite because I reached the final of that tournament before, and I won the Juniors there as well.”

Tennis fans can expect a thrilling show from the feisty Romanian if she qualifies for the US$6.5 million (S$8.88 million) season-ending tournament, and Halep sounded a warning to her rivals today, as she said: “I’ve improved a lot in various aspects of my game like my serve. I’m hitting the ball harder and that means a lot for the future. It’s maybe not my best serve now, but soon it will be better and I have confidence that my forehand and backhand and my movement on court will be better.”

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