THE WINNERS

No.6 seed Simona Halep capped off a dominating week in the Spanish capital, conquering Dominika Cibukova 6-2, 6-4 to claim the Mutua Madrid Open crown and her first title of 2016.

Madrid holds a special place in the Romanian’s career: it was here in 2013 that she received a wildcard that kick started her ascent into the WTA’s elite. In 2014 Halep returned as a finalist, and this year she led a strong Romanian contingent that made tournament history before she captured her second career Premier Mandatory title.

With the win Halep will make her return to the WTA Top 5, at No.5, and both Cibulkova and Halep will enter the Road To Singapore Leaderboard’s Top 8.

Read the full story and watch highlights here | WTA Insider: As It Happened

Meanwhile in doubles, the No.5 seeded team of Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic struck once again in their burgeoning rivalry with World No.1 team Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis. The Frenchwomen defeated Hingis and Mirza 6-4, 6-4 to claim the doubles title at the Mutua Madrid Open.

“It’s definitely great period for us,” Garcia said in the post-match press conference. “Three finals, three titles, and two times against No.1 in the world, Martina and Sania, and once against Bethanie and Lucie. So it’s only great matches every single time.

“Very, very happy with what we produced on the court today.”

Read the full story here.

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GAME, SET, MATCH: WTA Insider

Game: Simona Halep gets back in the game.

After a season of stalls, Simona Halep is back in the conversation after rolling to her first title of the season at the Mutua Madrid Open. Halep lost just one set all week — a surprising bagel from her compatriot Irina Camelia Begu — posting dominant set scores all week and beating Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 6-4 to win the title on Saturday. The win moves Halep back into the Top 5 and into the Top 8 on the Road to Singapore Leaderboard, and it was a win that felt incredibly necessary for Halep after all her 2016 setbacks, which include injury and illness to start the season and a frustrating loss in her first match in Stuttgart to start the clay season.

“No one cares about me now,” Halep said with a laugh after her second round win in Madrid. “I care about myself, so that’s ok.”

“Attention is less and it’s good for every player I think, when you get a little less attention. I always felt normal, but sometimes the people around you expect more results, better results and that’s why you get frustrated and you get nervous. Now I feel ok, I have no points to defend, so I am free.”

In Madrid, Halep played like a woman completely free of pressure and expectation, something we haven’t seen since the US Open Series last summer. Even after the seeds feel around her and she became the overwhelming favorite to win the title by the time the quarterfinals rolled around, Halep took it match-by-match and kept it simple. Her game flowed accordingly. She saved her best for her last two matches, reeling off 11 consecutive games to beat Sam Stosur in the semifinals and using her counterpunching prowess perfectly to thwart Cibulkova less than 24 hours later.

Last year Halep struggled to back up her tremendous 2014 clay and grass seasons, where she made the French Open final and Wimbledon semifinals. She took a surprising loss to Caroline Wozniacki in Stuttgart and lost early in Paris and London. This win in Madrid, her biggest title since Indian Wells last year, put her back on the radar in Europe. Now to see how she handles it.

WTA Insider: Champions’ Corner with Halep

Set: Kristina Mladenovic and Caroline Garcia get Lucky No.13.

The French pair continue their run on clay, moving their impressive win-streak to 13 matches by beating co-No.1s Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis in Madrid to win their third consecutive title. Perhaps even more impressive than the streak is their back-to-back wins over Mirza and Hingis in finals, a feat no team had yet to achieve. They also beat No.2s Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova to win their first title in Charleston. Those are quality wins and their undefeated streak on clay has surprised event them.

“We didn’t expect to play better on clay than on hard,” Garcia said. “On hard we were already happy with what we did, two finals and one very close to get one more win. But maybe our game is even better on clay. I don’t know. But our kick serve and forehand with spin is a little bit more efficient on this surface.

“Also we needed time to [adjust to each other]. We are knowing each other better and better every week, so maybe it’s going to be better and better every week. We hope so, but sometimes it’s just on one point where you go to cover the other one, and at the beginning you didn’t do it. It’s one more point with no ad and tiebreak like this, and one point can change everything.”

Match: Sam Stosur and Dominika Cibulkova finding their clay form.

Both women should be threats in Paris in two weeks’ time. Since the tour turned to European clay, Stosur has made the final in Prague and the semifinals in Madrid, her biggest result on clay since making the 2010 French Open final. It took a fantastic effort form Halep early in their semifinal to fend off Stosur’s ruthless forehand and flip the match on its head.

As for Cibulkova, she continues to be one of the best players of 2016. She’s made the final or better at two of the last three tournaments she’s played, winning the title in Katowice. She’ll be seeded in Paris after her run to the final, a fact that will be the source of great relief for every other seeded player (just as Madrid’s top seed Agnieszka Radwanska).

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RANKING MOVERS:
Notable singles ranking movers for the week of May 9, 2016.

Louisa Chirico (USA), +54 (No.130 to 76): The biggest ranking jump of the week goes to the 19-year-old American Chirico. She breaks into the Top 100 for the first time with her run from the qualifying rounds of the Mutua Madrid Open all the way to the semifinal.

Dominika Cibulkova (SVK), +12 (No.38 to 26): Cibulkova’s rivals can breathe a sigh of relief now that she’s back inside the Top 30: the dangerous Slovak is now going to be seeded at top events moving forward.

Daria Gavrilova (AUS), +7 (No.39 to 32): Australian youngster Gavrilova reaches a career high ranking of No.32 this week after her quarterfinal showing in Madrid, her biggest result of the year since the Australian Open.

Timea Bacsinszky (SUI), +5 (No.15 to 10): Bacsinszky is back into the Top 10 – after winning the International-level event in Rabat and reaching the round of 16 in Madrid, the Swiss equals her best ranking.

Simona Halep (ROU), +2 (No.7 to 5): She only jumped up two spaces, but it’s a big leap for Halep to put her back up to No.5 in the world after a dip this season.

UPCOMING TOURNAMENTS

Internazionali BNL d’Italia
Rome, Italy
Premier | $2,599,610 | Clay, Outdoor
Monday, May 9 – Sunday, May 15, 2016

Internationaux de Strasbourg
Strasbourg, France
International | $226,750 | Clay, Outdoor
Sunday, May 15 – Saturday, May 21

NÜRNBERGER VERSICHERUNGSCUP
Nurnberg, Germany
International | $226,750 | Clay, Outdoor
Sunday, May 15 – Saturday, May 21

Roland Garros
Paris, France
Grand Slam | – | Clay Outdoor
Sunday, May 22 – Sunday, June 5

TOP 20 PLAYER SCHEDULES
1. Serena Williams- Rome, Roland Garros
2. Angelique Kerber – Rome, Nurnberg, Roland Garros
3. Agnieszka Radwanska – Roland Garros
4. Garbiñe Muguruza – Rome, Roland Garros
5. Simona Halep – Rome, Roland Garros
6. Victoria Azarenka – Rome, Roland Garros
7. Roberta Vinci – Rome, Nurnberg, Roland Garros
8. Belinda Bencic – Roland Garros
9. Petra Kvitova – Rome, Roland Garros
10. Timea Bacsinszky – Rome, Roland Garros
11. Carla Suárez Navarro – Rome, Roland Garros
12. Maria Sharapova
13. Flavia Pennetta
14. Venus Williams – Rome, Roland Garros
15. Lucie Safarova – Rome, Roland Garros
16. Ana Ivanovic – Rome, Roland Garros
17. Elina Svitolina – Rome, Roland Garros
18. Sara Errani – Rome, Roland Garros
19. Karolina Pliskova – Rome, Roland Garros
20. Svetlana Kuznetsova – Rome, Roland Garros

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
Best wishes to those celebrating birthdays this week:

 Timea Babos (HUN) – May 10, 1993
Katerina Siniakova (CZE) – May 10, 1993
Christina McHale (USA) – May 11, 1992
Anastasia Rodionova (AUS) – May 12, 1982
Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) – May 14, 1993