Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Peng Shuai of China were leading Spanish duo Garbine Muguruza and Carla Suarez Navarro 6-4, 2-0 at press time last night in their bid to end their partnership by winning one final trophy at the WTA Finals in Singapore.
Former world No. 1s and second seeds, the WTA Finals are to be the cross-strait pairing’s final tournament together, with Hsieh set to partner India’s Sania Mirza next season.
The victors of the quarter-final clash are due to face Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia and Anastasia Rodionova of Australia in the semi-finals after they defeated fourth-seeded Russian pairing Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina 4-6, 6-2, 10-6 earlier yesterday.
Photo: Reuters
In the singles, Simona Halep handed an out-of-sorts Serena Williams the joint heaviest defeat of her long and illustrious career as the Romanian beat the world No. 1 6-0, 6-2.
As well as Halep played in moving her opponent back and around Singapore’s purple indoor hard court, the 33-year-old American only had herself to blame for the defeat after her serve fell apart and the errors flowed.
The loss halted the double defending champion’s winning streak at the season-ending event at 16 matches and leaves her needing to beat Eugenie Bouchard to make it through to the last four from the red group.
Photo: AFP
Ana Ivanovic beat Bouchard in yesterday’s other game, winning 6-1, 6-3.
“It was actually embarrassing, I think describes the way I played. Yeah, very embarrassing,” Williams told reporters, before heaping praise on Halep. “I’ve seen her play a lot. Like I said, she’s never played like this before.”
Williams gave no indication of the struggles that awaited her as she boomed down an ace to start the match between the two players, who were impressive in claiming straight-set victories in their opening matches.
That ace would be one of only nine points the 18-time Grand Slam champion would win in the opening set as her game fell apart to give Maria Sharapova hope of overhauling her to finish the season as world No. 1.
Halep, serving supremely, needed only 12 minutes to race 4-0 ahead, with Williams looking almost in shock at her routine failure to send simple ground-strokes over the net.
The American, looking for a fifth WTA Finals title, also tossed in six double faults, with the few second serves that did make it over getting rough treatment from Halep.
The Romanian, runner-up at the French Open earlier this year, grew in confidence as Williams offered little hope of a recovery.
Halep, who beat Bouchard in her opener on Monday, smashed an ace to take the set 6-0 at the third opportunity.
The last time Williams lost a set 6-0 was in Madrid last year at the hands of Anabel Medina Garrigues, but she bounced back to win the match and the tournament. That scenario never looked like repeating itself yesterday.
Jumping around in between points and screaming at herself in an attempt to snap out of the hole, she finally got herself on the board in the ninth game as she held serve to make it 2-1.
She then rallied on the impressive Halep serve to force a break point, but the 23-year-old Romanian snuffed it out with another ace and went on to make the key hold for 3-1.
Rather than feel the heat as the victory line approached, Halep reveled in it.
She stepped away from her traditional counter-punch game and went on the front foot, landing attacking ground-strokes to move Williams around the court as she moved 5-2 ahead with the American despondent.
She claimed the famous win on her first match point, when Williams dumped another forehand into the net as she matched her career-worst two-game total from a 1998 defeat by Joannette Kruger in Oklahoma City.
“The biggest match of my life. I’m really happy,” Halep said after becoming only the second woman to beat Williams in straight sets in a WTA Finals match after Kim Clijsters in 2002.
Ivanovic had lost both her previous matches against Bouchard, at Wimbledon last year and this year’s Australian Open quarter-final. However, she cruised through the first set, winning all but two points when getting her first serve into play.
At the end of the set, Bouchard’s coach Nick Saviano had to give his charge a pep talk, urging her to show more enthusiasm and fight, and the Canadian responded with a much more competitive showing in the second set.
The key moment arrived in the seventh game, when Bouchard saved five break points, but double-faulted on the sixth, handing Ivanovic the break. The Serb went on to take the victory that put her back in the running for a semi-final berth.
On Tuesday, Caroline Wozniacki credited her training for next month’s New York Marathon as a key factor in her victory over Sharapova in a grueling three-set match.
Wozniacki won 7-6 (7/4), 6-7 (5/7), 6-2 to beat Sharapova for the second straight time, having also won in the fourth round of the US Open.
Wozniacki, who has always been regarded as one of the fittest players on the WTA Tour, said her additional running work in preparation for the marathon had taken her stamina to a new level and also given her added belief in the 3 hour, 15 minute match.
“I just feel like right now, with all the training and running I’ve been doing, I can keep being out there and keep running,” Wozniacki said. “I kept thinking to myself out there in the third set: ‘If you’re going to get tired now, how are you going to get through this marathon? You better keep going.’”
No such stamina was required in Tuesday’s other match as Agnieszka Radwanska had a comfortable 6-2, 6-3 win over Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova.
It was an impressive performance by the Pole, who had been beaten in straight sets the past two times she had played Kvitova.
It was the fourth successive year in which the pair had faced each other in their opening matches at the WTA Finals.
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