The 25-year-old is less than 1,000 points behind new No. 1 Karolina Pliskova, with 900 points to the winner of this week's event in Toronto, and also to next week's tournament in Cincinnati.
But despite taking a wild card into Washington the week before Toronto, Halep says she's not adding events to try to improve her ranking.
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"No, I haven't done any adjustments to get there," she said, adding she's "never going to chase points," but will rather "[go] to the big tournaments to give my best to get to win the No. 1, not just to get it."
Though Halep retired in Washington with heat illness, she described herself as fit to play this week.
Halep's biggest goal is still to win a major, having been just a few games away at the French Open before admittedly getting nervous. But the top spot would also be a big achievement.
"I prefer the Grand Slam than the No. 1,” she said, “but still, to get No. 1, not many players did that, so it's going to be very important for me. But still, like I said, I want to win it, so for that I have to win big tournaments."
Even with those stinging defeats, Halep's recent performances have still been a marked improvement over the start of her season. She did not get further than the quarterfinals of a tournament until Stuttgart, but has won a title (Madrid), reached two finals and reached at least the quarterfinals of each event she’s played since.
She has attributed the turnaround to a temporary split with coach Darren Cahill that forced her to re-examine her attitude.