Top-ranked Simona Halep crushes Caroline Garcia in opening match at WTA Finals in Singapore
Romanian halts Garcia’s 11-match winning streak with a 6-4, 6-2 masterclass
In her opening round robin match at the eight-player season finale, Halep halted Garcia’s 11-match winning streak with a 6-4, 6-2 masterclass in 88 minutes at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
It was sweet revenge for the recently crowned world number one from Romania, who lost to France’s Garcia in this month’s China Open final in Beijing.
Halep, who received the top billing a day before the final in Beijing, said she enjoyed winning her first match as the world number one.
“I feel happy. I feel great winning the first match in the first tournament coming in as number one,” she told reporters after the match.
“It’s a nice thing that I can be number one at the end of the year but it is not the most important thing in this moment for me. I just want to win the matches that I’m playing here.”
“I’m disappointed about the loss,” Garcia said. “It was not the way I wanted but it’s not over yet.”
Halep’s famed defensive prowess and precision hitting took hold of proceedings, particularly as she breezed through the second set in 38 minutes.
In the Red Group’s second match, world number six Caroline Wozniacki posted her first win over Elina Svitolina in grand style with a 6-2, 6-0 thrashing in just 59 minutes.
“I just stayed really aggressive and really tried to just go for my shots,” Wozniacki told reporters after the match. “I think I just kind of broke her down a little bit. Then I think she lost the belief or she tried to go a little bit more for it.”
Svitolina, playing in her first WTA Finals match, said she struggled to adjust to the Singapore court’s slower surface.
“This court is very, very slow. Today I completely lost my rhythm after (a) couple of games,” she said. “I’m very disappointed with the performance today.”