Top-seeded Simona Halep wins her 20th singles title
Top-seeded Simona Halep won her 20th singles title after prevailing in a third-set tiebreaker to beat Elena Rybakina 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5) in the Dubai Championships final on Saturday.
No. 2-ranked Halep was 3-1 down in the third set. The Romanian broke to lead 6-5, but Rybakina's powerful hitting forced the tiebreaker.
Halep clinched her first title since 2019 Wimbledon against her rising Kazakh opponent.
Ladies and gentlemen you 2020 @DDFTennis Champion Simona Halep!#DDFTennis pic.twitter.com/kbj8IV9zoV
— 🇷🇴WTA Romania🇷🇴 (@WTARomania) February 22, 2020
Rybakina knocked out Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin and former No. 1 Karolina Pliskova in earlier rounds, and was playing her fourth final of the young WTA season. She's lost three of them.
Rybakina is projected to rise two spots to No. 17 in Monday's rankings update.
Halep also won Dubai in 2015.