Simona Halep appoints Belgian Thierry Van Cleemput as new coach

Former world number one Simona Halep has appointed Thierry Van Cleemput as her new coach and will officially begin working with the Belgian at next week`s Qatar Open.

Halep had earlier planned to fly solo for the first few months of 2019 after former coach Darren Cahill left to spend more time with his family in Australia.

French Open champion Halep began speaking with Van Cleemput during last month`s Australian Open after he split with world number 21 David Goffin midway through the tournament, according to a report on the Women Tennis Association (WTA) website.

Van Cleemput had worked with his compatriot for the last five years, overseeing Goffin`s rise to the top 10 in the rankings.

World number three Halep, who won her maiden Grand Slam at Roland Garros last year but was diagnosed with a herniated disk in October which ruled her out of the season-ending WTA Finals, made it to the fourth round at Melbourne Park before she lost to American tennis star Serena Williams in three sets.

Halep is all set to represent Romania in their Fed Cup tie against Czech Republic in Ostrava this weekend before she will head into tournaments in Doha and Dubai.