Simona Halep has backed Naomi Osaka to bounce back from her poor start to life as world No 1.
Halep had held the top spot in the WTA rankings for 48 weeks until Osaka took it from her at the end of January after winning the Australian Open.
But the Japanese player lost her first match as No 1 at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Tuesday, losing 6-3, 6-3 to Katerina Mladenovic, and then conceded she was struggling to get used to her new status in the women's game.
But Halep, 27, who reached the Dubai quarter-finals on Wednesday with a 6-3, 7-5 win over Lesia Tsurenko, said that the Japanese player should not be too worried by one bad result.
"It's normal," the Romanian said. "She didn't play since Melbourne. She won that title, very big title. It's normal to have a little bit of letdown maybe.
"But she will come back stronger. If she lost one match, doesn't mean that she lost everything. She has to relax."
Halep believed that Osaka's meteoric rise to the top had perhaps meant that she had been unprepared for the extra pressures of being at the top.
Osaka had started 2018 at No 68 in the rankings, but winning the Indian Wells Masters, the US Open and then triumphing in Melbourne had seen her surge up the order to take top spot.
Halep's path to the top was rather different. She first broke into the top 10 in 2014 and had to wait until October 2017 for her first run as No 1.
"I didn't feel very weird when I went to No 1 seed," she said when asked if she could empathise with Osaka's situation. "I didn't have this pressure.
"Also I've been there for four years before, so No 2, No 3. She's different because she came last year from around 70, if I remember well. Maybe it's different."
Halep revealed that where she felt stress was from the Romanian media, who had followed her career as she looked to be her country's first major winner since 1978.
She finally ended that wait at the French Open in 2018, and she said: "Nobody has or had what I had in Romania. Trust me that I am strong, that I could resist that.
"But when I'm going to the tournaments, even if I'm No 1, No 5, I treat the same. You can lose any time. You can win any match. I'm going with that mentality.
“If I lose, let's say, an easy match, even if at this level you don't have easy matches, I don't make a drama. I want to shake it off fast, then start the new day tomorrow."
Halep remains on track for a second Dubai title after overcoming a fightback from Tsurenko in the second set on Wednesday.
The 2015 champion was twice a break down before she won the final three games to seal her second successive straight sets victory, having defeated Eugenie Bouchard on Tuesday.
Ominously for the rest of the players remaining in the draw Halep believes she is in promising form as she bids for a first tournament title since the Montreal Masters in August.
"I feel good on court," she said. I feel that my game is pretty strong, also physically, even if I'm tired a little bit. Yeah, I feel close to my highest level."
She will face either No 8 seed Aryna Sabalenka or Belinda Bencic on Thursday for a place in the semi-finals.
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
The past Palme d'Or winners
2018 Shoplifters, Hirokazu Kore-eda
2017 The Square, Ruben Ostlund
2016 I, Daniel Blake, Ken Loach
2015 Dheepan, Jacques Audiard
2014 Winter Sleep (Kış Uykusu), Nuri Bilge Ceylan
2013 Blue is the Warmest Colour (La Vie d'Adèle: Chapitres 1 et 2), Abdellatif Kechiche, Adele Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux
2012 Amour, Michael Haneke
2011 The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick
2010 Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Lung Bunmi Raluek Chat), Apichatpong Weerasethakul
2009 The White Ribbon (Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte), Michael Haneke
2008 The Class (Entre les murs), Laurent Cantet
WORLD CUP SQUAD
Dimuth Karunaratne (Captain), Angelo Mathews, Avishka Fernando, Lahiru Thirimanne, Kusal Mendis (wk), Kusal Perera (wk), Dhananjaya de Silva, Thisara Perera, Isuru Udana, Jeffrey Vandersay, Jeevan Mendis, Milinda Siriwardana, Lasith Malinga, Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep
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The Bio
Amal likes watching Japanese animation movies and Manga - her favourite is The Ancient Magus Bride
She is the eldest of 11 children, and has four brothers and six sisters.
Her dream is to meet with all of her friends online from around the world who supported her work throughout the years
Her favourite meal is pizza and stuffed vine leaves
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Virtual banks explained
What is a virtual bank?
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority defines it as a bank that delivers services through the internet or other electronic channels instead of physical branches. That means not only facilitating payments but accepting deposits and making loans, just like traditional ones. Other terms used interchangeably include digital or digital-only banks or neobanks. By contrast, so-called digital wallets or e-wallets such as Apple Pay, PayPal or Google Pay usually serve as intermediaries between a consumer’s traditional account or credit card and a merchant, usually via a smartphone or computer.
What’s the draw in Asia?
Hundreds of millions of people under-served by traditional institutions, for one thing. In China, India and elsewhere, digital wallets such as Alipay, WeChat Pay and Paytm have already become ubiquitous, offering millions of people an easy way to store and spend their money via mobile phone. Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines are also among the world’s biggest under-banked countries; together they have almost half a billion people.
Is Hong Kong short of banks?
No, but the city is among the most cash-reliant major economies, leaving room for newcomers to disrupt the entrenched industry. Ant Financial, an Alibaba Group Holding affiliate that runs Alipay and MYBank, and Tencent Holdings, the company behind WeBank and WeChat Pay, are among the owners of the eight ventures licensed to create virtual banks in Hong Kong, with operations expected to start as early as the end of the year.
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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United States
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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Norway
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Canada
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Singapore
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Australia
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Saudi Arabia
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South Korea
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What is graphene?
Graphene is extracted from graphite and is made up of pure carbon.
It is 200 times more resistant than steel and five times lighter than aluminum.
It conducts electricity better than any other material at room temperature.
It is thought that graphene could boost the useful life of batteries by 10 per cent.
Graphene can also detect cancer cells in the early stages of the disease.
The material was first discovered when Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov were 'playing' with graphite at the University of Manchester in 2004.
