Simona Halep rises to No. 3 on WTA’s all-time career prize money list

Two-time Grand Slam champion and former No. 1 Simona Halep has had an excellent start to 2022, highlighted by capturing the 23rd WTA title of her career at the Melbourne Summer Set, as well as semifinal showings at Dubai and Indian Wells.

And today, after another quarterfinal showing in Madrid that earned her $210,366, she makes a very noteworthy move: Halep surpasses Maria Sharapova for the No. 3 spot on the WTA’s all-time career prize money list.

She only trails the Williams sisters now.

WTA CAREER PRIZE MONEY LEADERS (as of May 9th, 2022)
1. Serena Williams ($94,518,971)
2. Venus Williams ($42,280,541)
3. Simona Halep ($38,842,887)
4. Maria Sharapova ($38,777,962)
5. Caroline Wozniacki ($35,233,415)
6. Victoria Azarenka ($34,287,850)
7. Petra Kvitova ($33,828,662)
8. Angelique Kerber ($31,547,489)
9. Agnieszka Radwanska ($27,683,807)
10. Svetlana Kuznetsova ($25,816,890)

Halep’s run to the quarterfinals in the Spanish capital this past week was her 93rd WTA quarterfinal since 2010, the second-most in that time (after Kerber’s 96).

It was also the Romanian’s 38th career WTA 1000 quarterfinal, the second-most since that level of tournament began (after Radwanska’s 42).

Currently ranked No. 21, Halep has an incredible opportunity to rise up the WTA rankings over the next few months—she missed three months of action last year after injuring her calf in Rome, not returning to the tour until August. She missed both Roland Garros and Wimbledon, where she won in 2018 and 2019, respectively.