Can a loss unfairly overshadow a win? In the case of Simona Halep’s stunningly rapid 6-0, 6-4 defeat at the hands of Elina Svitolina in the Rome women’s final on Sunday, the answer would seem to be yes.
Throughout the 19-minute first set, the talk on TV and Twitter, and most likely in the stands at the Foro Italico, was all about the Romanian. Where had the No. 1 seed’s game gone? Twenty-four hours earlier, she had gritted her way past Maria Sharapova in three long sets. Now, with the title on the line, she was rushing from one lost point to the next, shanking one shot after the next, while barely lifting her eyes from the ground. Even her coach, the normally upbeat Darren Cahill, told her that she was on her own with this one. While Halep played a better and livelier second set, she never seriously challenged Svitolina.
“I think I was a little bit tight, and the muscles were a little stiff,” said Halep, who was treated for an apparent back issue during second set. “...But it was not about the injury. Today I was just not fresh enough to start the match better.”
Anytime a player ranked No. 1 suffers a possible injury and loses, it’s going to draw headlines. Worse for Halep is that this defeat is part of a long-running trend. Since winning in Madrid last May, she’s 1-6 in finals, her lone victory coming at a small, International-level event in Shenzhen the first week of 2018. Not only does the WTA’s No. 1 player not have a Slam title, she currently doesn’t hold any Premier or Premier Mandatory titles, either.
WATCH: Holding Serve, Elina Svitolina