Former world No. 1 Simona Halep is now third on the all-time career prize money rankings, surpassing tennis legend Maria Sharapova.
On Tuesday, Halep defeated American Cori Gauff 6-3 6-2 to progress into the Madrid quarterfinal.
Following her Madrid victory over Gauff, Halep’s career prize money total increased to $38,842,886.
Sharapova, a former five-time Grand Slam champion, netted $38,777,962 in prize money during her career.
🇷🇴 Simona #Halep beat Cori Gauff and she overcame Maria #Sharapova in #WTA‘s #All-Time #Career Prize #Money Rankings
1. 🇺🇸Serena, $94,518,971
2. 🇺🇸Venus, $42,280,540
3. 🇷🇴Halep, $38,842,886
4. Sharapova, $38,777,962$97,842, that’s how much her win against Gauff was worth. pic.twitter.com/mbOjDGw8M4
— Marcu (@Marcuucram) May 2, 2022
Sharapova announced her retirement from tennis in early 2020, while Halep is stil active even though she was recently contemplating a retirement.
Halep, who had a challenging 2021 season, recently told Tennis Majors that she was contemplating to retire last year and she also entered this season with some doubts in her mind.
However, Halep has rediscovered the fire for the game and she is motivated to win more Grand Slams before she retires.
Halep beats Gauff but then loses to Ons Jabeur
Halep made a great start to her Madrid campaign as she won three matches in straight sets to comfortably reach the quarterfinal.
Halep entered the Jabeur match as she slight favorite because she was playing a convincing tennis but then stood no chance against the Tunisian.
Jabeur, ranked at No. 10 in the world, dominated Halep 6-3 6-2.
It was actually Halep that made a good start as she claimed the first break of the match in the third game.
However, it didn’t take long for Jabeur to respond as she broke Halep in the fourth and sixth games to overturn the early deficit and win the first set.
In the second set, Halep led 2-1 after the opening three games.
Halep then suffered a collapse as Jabeur claimed breaks in the fifth and seventh games to win five games in a row and finish the match in style.
Next on Halep’s schedule is Rome, where she made it all the way in 2020.
Halep didn’t have a memorable campaign in Rome last year as she sustained a calf injury and sat out the next two months.