File image of Simona Halep
Romanian tennis star Simona Halep has retained her numero uno spot in the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Rankings after booking her place in the semi-finals of the Rome Masters.
The top-seeded stormed into the last-four after easing past seventh-seed Caroline Garcia of France 6-2, 6-3 in a one-sided quarter-final clash that lasted one hour and 14 minutes.
With the win, Halep has now set up a clash against her Russian opponent Maria Sharapova for a place in the summit showdown. Halep maintains a lead of 425 points over second-placed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, according to the official website.
Meanwhile, Spain's Garbine Muguruza, Ukraine's Elina Svitolina and Czech Republic's Karolína Pliskova complete the top five list.
The current WTA top 10 are as follows:
1. Simona Halep
2. Caroline Wozniacki
3. Garbine Muguruza
4. Elina Svitolina
5. Karolína Pliskova
6. Jelena Ostapenko
7. Caroline Garcia
8. Petra Kvitova
9. Venus Williams
10. Sloane Stephens
