Top-ranked Simona Halep crushes Caroline Garcia in opening match at WTA Finals in Singapore

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.”

Garcia, the world number eight, had secured the last spot for Singapore after winning back-to-back titles in Wuhan and Beijing, but she was thoroughly outclassed in her debut WTA Finals match.