SINGAPORE:
Serena Williams hit back from her embarrassing defeat at the WTA Finals by demolishing Eugenie Bouchard 6-1, 6-1 to keep her campaign alive in fearsome fashion yesterday.
After only winning two games against Simona Halep, a grimly focused Serena only lost two against Bouchard as she swept the glamorous Canadian off the court and out of the tournament in 58 minutes.
The defending champion lost the first game but then grabbed 11 in a row, including a serve recorded at 205kmh in the second set, not far off Sabine Lisicki's world record.
It was exactly the response needed from the world number one after Wednesday's 6-0, 6-2 loss to Halep – her heaviest since 1998 – put the skids under her attempt at a third straight year-end title.
"Yesterday [Wednesday] was tough for me but I had to put that behind me," said Serena. "My coach told me I was still in the tournament, even though I felt like I was out of the tournament."
Sharapova’s world number one hopes hit
Earlier, Maria Sharapova slumped 6-3, 6-2 to Petra Kvitova as both her title hopes, and her chances of overtaking Serena and finishing the year as world number one, receded dramatically.
The Russian superstar, also beaten in her opener against Caroline Wozniacki, now needs to win the end-of-season championship and hope Serena doesn't reach the final to become year-end number one.
But her first loss to Kvitova since 2011 left her campaign hanging by a thread as she sits bottom of the White Group with two defeats and one round-robin match left against Agnieszka Radwanska.
"Of course I had a long match, over three hours a day ago, but I don't feel tired," said Sharapova, who went down in three tough sets to Wozniacki.
"I'm happy to be here. It's easy to sit here and say, 'Yeah, I'm tired'. I lost two matches. But that's not the way I feel, or the way that I choose to speak.”
Published in The Express Tribune, October 24th, 2014.
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