Ruthless Serena ends season on a high

World number one avenges loss to Halep to win fifth WTA Finals title

SINGAPORE: Serena Williams destroyed Romania's Simona Halep 6-3, 6-0 on Sunday to win the WTA Finals championship in Singapore, proving once again why she remains the most formidable force in women's tennis.

Serena avenged her ‘embarrassing’ loss to Halep in the group stage of the season-ending tournament with a ruthless display, overpowering her pint-sized opponent at every opportunity.

Halep, who had earlier shocked Serena 6-0, 6-2 in the elite event, was unable to repeat that performance as the American reminded everyone why she is the number one player in the world.

"I lost to her a couple of days ago so I knew she was capable of playing well," said Serena in a courtside interview. "She started well but I knew I had to beat her."

Fighting the odds

For Serena, it was her third successive win in the WTA Finals, second only in prestige to the four grand slams, and her fifth overall, tied for second with Steffi Graf. Only Martina Navratilova, with eight titles, has won more, but with Serena showing no signs of slowing down at the age of 33, it is not inconceivable the American could overhaul her.

The odds were stacked against Serena winning in Singapore after she pulled out of two events in China because of a knee injury and then lost to Halep in the group stages.

But, as she has shown time and time again throughout her illustrious career, Serena has a knack for raising her game when it matters, as Halep learnt the hard way at Singapore's National Indoor Stadium.

"It was an amazing week for me so I can’t be sad that I lost," said Halep. "Congratulations to Serena — you are the best."

Just as she did in their previous encounter, Halep made a confident start, holding her first service game to love and putting Serena under early pressure. She broke Serena’s second service game to lead 2-1 but failed to consolidate her early advantage as the American responded by taking her game up a notch.

Serena thumped two forehands past Halep to set up her first break point and then levelled the scores at 2-2 when the Romanian dumped a forehand into the net. Staring down Halep with each point she won, a fired-up Serena quickly began to assert her authority, and broke her opponent again to lead 4-2 when Halep hit a backhand long.

A lapse in concentration cost Serena the next game as successive double-faults allowed Halep to break back but those mistakes only spurred her on and she proceeded to reel off the final eight games in a row.

She blasted successive aces, the first at 161 km/h then the next at 194 km/h, to clinch the opening set then showed no mercy in the second, out-muscling her opponent with her powerful serves, ground strokes and overhead smashes.

Halep won only seven points in the entire second set, which lasted just 25 minutes, before Serena sealed her win with her 26th winner and raised her arms in triumph as she captured her 64th career title and just over $2 million in prize money.

 

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