Romania’s Simona Halep started her campaign for a maiden WTA Finals title in emphatic fashion with a thumping 6-0, 6-3 victory over US Open champion Flavia Pennetta in the opening singles match of the season-ending tournament in Singapore yesterday.
The world No. 2 is the highest-ranked player in the field after Serena Williams, who has won the tournament the past three years, withdrew citing the need to rest after a year spent carrying injuries.
Halep crushed Williams in round-robin play a year ago, before losing to the American in the final and her love of the Singapore Indoor Stadium hard court was evident in a first set she wrapped up in 26 minutes after breaking serve three times.
Photo: Reuters
“I feel the same now as I did against Serena,” Halep told reporters. “I can play my best tennis here, yet I didn’t play my best today, but I played good tennis. I played solid and was dominating the match. I have confidence and I just want to stay focused, because after tomorrow I will have a tough match. I expect every match to be difficult, so I just want to stay focused and to believe that I have my chance.”
The Romanian had arrived in Singapore under an injury cloud after picking up an ankle knock at the start of the month, but the 24-year-old moved effortlessly around the court yesterday and withstood Pennetta’s attempts to get back into the contest.
The 33-year-old Italian played more like she had on her way to a stunning victory in New York last month in the second set, but her resistance ended in a marathon eighth game when she dropped serve to trail 5-3 after staving off three break points.
Pennetta, who announced she would retire from tennis at the end of the season, forced only two break points, both in the opening game of the second set, during the entire match and her unforced error count of 27 made life much easier for Halep.
“The ‘Road to Singapore’ was pretty hard over the last month, but I’m really enjoying playing in this event and being here,” the 33-year-old said of her maiden singles appearance in the WTA Finals. “Of course, I would love to play a little bit better, but I still have a chance. I still have two matches to play, so we will see what happens.”
In the late match yesterday, world No. 3 Maria Sharapova defeated Agnieszka Radwanska 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the contest between the other two players in the Red Group.
The White Group consists of Garbine Muguruza, Petra Kvitova, Angelique Kerber and Lucie Safarova, with round-robin play in that pool starting today.
Taiwan’s Chan sisters are also due on court today in their opening doubles match.
Third seeds Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan are due to take on fifth seeds Caroline Garcia of France and Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia in the White Group.
Additional reporting by staff writer
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set