at Nottinghill and then lost to Australian Jessica Moore in the semifinals of the Australian Open. After focusing on professional tournaments, Halep returned to the junior circuit in May and won her first Grade A title at the Trofeo Bonfiglio without dropping a set. She then finished her junior career by winning her only junior Grand Slam title at the French Open. As the ninth seed, she defeated the fifth-seed Moore and the second-seed Rus en route to reaching the final without losing a set. Halep defeated compatriot Elena Bogdan in three sets in the final to become the second Romanian girl to win a junior Grand Slam singles title after Mariana Simionescu won the 1974 French Open. With the title, she also became the top-ranked junior in the world. Professional career 2006–10: Top 100 debut Halep turned pro in 2006 and started her professional career playing low-level $10K ITF Women's Circuit events in Romania in 2006 and 2007. She won both her first two ITF singles and doubles titles in back-to-back weeks in Bucharest in May 2007. After accomplishing this feat a third time the following year, Halep won her first $25K singles title in Sweden in June 2008. She began playing more higher-level events once she finished her junior career, reaching a $50K final in 2009 in Makarska. Halep also attempted to qualify for WTA events twice that year, losing in the second qualifying round at both the Open GDF Suez and the French Open. Towards the end of the season, she defeated 96 Angelique Kerber for her first top 100 victory and also reached the semifinals of a $50K event in Minsk to make her debut in the top 200 of the WTA rankings. Halep made her WTA main-draw debut in April 2010, qualifying for three consecutive events. In her first WTA tournament, she reached the quarterfinals at the Andalucia Tennis Experience, defeating compatriot and world No. 36, Sorana Cîrstea before losing to No. 16, Flavia Pennetta. At her third event, Halep made her first career WTA final, finishing runner-up at the Morocco Open to Iveta Benešová. This success helped her rise from No. 166 at the beginning of April to No. 110 in the first set of rankings in May. Later that month, Halep made her Grand Slam debut at the French Open, losing her opening round match in straight sets to No. 7, Samantha Stosur