Simona Halep finished 2013 as the most improved player on the women's tour, ranked 11 and having won more titles for the year than anyone bar Serena Williams. She left her Bucharest tennis base behind, went home to coastal Constanta and celebrated. ''I stayed with my family and friends, many parties,'' she said.

Six tournament victories - the first of the Romanian's career - and the third-most matches won (53) behind Williams and Agnieszka Radwanska were cause to let her hair down, and she enters the new year with a spring in her step, belief in her mind and revised expectations. ''I want to remain in top 20 this year and my goal is to make quarter-finals at a grand slam.''

This is where the 22-year-old saw herself when, in 2009, Halep made a decision she hoped would change her tennis and her life. Not yet 18, she had breast-reduction surgery.

''For tennis, I did it, and I'm really happy that I did,'' she said. ''I feel very well now, it was a good decision for me.''