Halep does it again

Simona Halep just can't stop winning. Right before Wimbledon, Halep won back-to-back tournaments on two different surfaces. I'll give her a pass on her Wimbledon second round exit because her opponent was Li Na (and she did take a set off of the Chinese star). Today, Halep won the Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest, defeating Yvonne Meusburger 6-3, 6-7, 6-1.

Top seeds Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka won the double title. They defeated Nina Bratchikova and Anna Tatishvili 6-4, 6-1 in the final.

Roberta Vinci lives in Palermo, and her best friend and doubles partner, Sara Errani, stayed with her during the Palermo tournament. Errani, in fact, was the defending champion (she also won the event in 2008) and top seed (Vinci was seeded 2nd), and she hadn't dropped a set against Vinci in their last five matches.

This was the tenth year that hometown star Vinci had a go at the title, and her tenth attempt was the best. She beat Errani 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in a match that lasted two hours and 11 minutes. Vinci now has a 9-1 record in WTA finals.

As announced yesterday, the doubles title was won by Kristina Mladenovic and Katarzyna Piter.

I don't understand Italian, so I'm sure I missed the best parts of the trophy ceremony, but the parts I did understand cracked me up. It took a long time for Errani to be called up to collect her runner-up check and trophy because a stream of men associated with the tournament were called up one by one. I kept waiting for Errani, and another man would come forward. And when those introductions were finally over, Errani still couldn't get her trophy because, you know, the cheerleaders had to perform!

Both the Budapest and Palermo tournaments were played on clay.