After starting her week with a tough three-set battle that nearly saw her exit the tournament in unceremonious fashion, Simona Halep cruised through the remainder of the week to lift the Shenzhen title. The Romanian defeated Timea Bacsinszky in straight sets to give herself the necessary momentum heading into the first Grand Slam of the season.

In the final, Halep held serve throughout the match and faced little resistance from the player who upset Petra Kvitova in the previous round. The top seed eventually defeated the eighth seed 6-2, 6-2 in just over an hour of court time.

“I wasn’t feeling very well before the match – I was a little bit sick – so I told myself I have nothing to lose, just go on court, be relaxed, stay focused and fight for every point,” Halep explained. “It worked, and I felt really relaxed today. I’m happy I could play better day by day and match by match here. I’m looking forward to playing like today in the next tournament, maybe even better.”

Halep has now won nine WTA titles, six in 2013, two in 2014 and one to start her year in 2015.

The Shenzhen doubles final saw Nadiia and Lyudmyla Kichenok win their first WTA doubles title together with a victory over Liang Chen and Wang Yafan 6-4, 7-6(6). They are just the second set of twins to win doubles titles on the WTA tour.