Halep Crowns Home Champion. Wins Too Many Friends

Ever since it was announced that Bucharest will be hosting a WTA event, the Romanian crowd had just one thing of its mind: have Simona Halep bring home the title. This felt like a certainty, Simona being featured in all TV commercial promoting the championships as the winner—even before the start of the competition. Moved from Budapest, Halep was the defending champion and the No.1 seed was a huge favourite to retain her crowd.

Cheered by an army of supporters, Simona had little trouble getting the job done. Although she beat lower-ranked players, playing at home can sometime be nerve-wrecking. Halep handled the pressure tremendously, trashing second seeded Italian, Roberta Vinci, 6-1, 6-3 in the final to give the Romanian people their champion. To add to the celebration, Alexandra Cadantu and Elena Bogdan teamed up to win the doubles title, making it a home sweep at the first edition of the BRD Bucharest Open.

In addition to all her on-court achievements, Simona has accomplished something far more significant: she forced the Romanian people to discover tennis. Some fell genuinely in love with the sport, others found inspiration for their social media statuses, but everyone is now talking about tennis—which became the hottest topic for discussion in the Romanian elitist groups. It's funny how people start to love you forever and ever just after you reach the heights. The same people that didn't give a f**k about you and what you do, now take pride in your achievement. They act like they were there to support you every step of your journey to success. It's OK celebrate her success, but don't feel entitled to it. They don't belong to her mother, father, lover, or the Romanian people. Simona's achievements are her own. I am still amazed by her tremendous transformation. She has made such progress already, but she needs to win a Grand Slam if she wants to book her place in the history book.

Simona Halep crowned herself the first champion at her home event in Bucharest, trashing second seeded Italian, Roberta Vinci, 6-1,6-3 in the final.

photos: HotNews.ro