So my eyes weren't deceiving me during the clay court season in 2014. 

Finally, Simona Halep is playing like she did leading up to her outstanding final against Sharapova at Roland Garros when she played at the top of her game but just got beaten by a zoning Sharapova. Even when she won Indian Wells last year or reached the finals of back-to-back tourneys in Toronto and Cincy a year ago, she was relying on other players' mistakes or mental meltdowns to get through. 

After competing very well at Wimbledon (an issue for her in the past) but not playing particularly well in getting to the quarters, she won a final of a small tournament in Romania 6-0, 6-0, backed it up by playing very well against Kerber (except for the seven games in a row she lost in the middle of the match) in the semis of Montreal, out-toughed Keys for the second time this summer in the final and has been playing beautifully in Cincy. She's taking control of the points, hitting winners like she did in the clay court season two years ago and has rarely done since then and has a real chance to win the U.S. Open if she stays in this mental frame. She'll always be vulnerable to power hitters who are hot that day, but when she plays like this, she can't lose to defensive players and will make the power hitters work very, very hard. 

I had begun doubting whether she'd ever been as good as I thought she was two years ago. 

Last edited by funches (8/18/2016 2:30 pm)