By Chris Oddo | Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Simona Halep stormed past Serena Williams with a command performance in Singapore, 6-0, 6-2.
Photo Source: Clive Brunskill/Getty
It started with a bagel and ended with a smile. Simona Halep couldn’t help it, after stunning Serena Williams, 6-0, 6-2 at the WTA Finals in Singapore on Wednesday, smiling ear to ear, she could hardly believe it.
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“It’s crazy,” she said, after closing the doors on the game’s greatest player in 65 minutes. “I feel unbelievable now. I have to forget this, to continue the tournament, and then I will party for sure.”
Halep took control the onset, pressuring Williams with aggressive play and racing through the first set with the loss of only nine points. Williams, who committed 36 errors against only 11 winners on the evening, didn’t help her cause very much throughout the stunning upset, but it was the quickness and consistency of Halep that kept Williams perpetually on the run in this match and forced her into many of those errors.
The 20-minute first set marked the second time that Williams had dropped a set without winning a game since 2008.
Wiliams’ fortunes didn’t change in the second set, as the world No. 1 committed four unforced errors in a loose first game to hand Halep the opening break. The 18-time Grand Slam and four-time WTA Finals champion would pick her level up a bit from there, finally holding serve and getting on the board in the third game, but each time she appeared to be turning the tide of the contest, Halep, who finished with 12 winners against 11 unforced errors, found the shots to keep her at bay.
Though pressured, the Romanian kept her nerve down the stretch, saving all six break points she faced over the course of the final set. Halep had to save break points in all four of her service games in the set, including two in the final game that saw Halep rally back from 15-40 down to close out the biggest win of her life when Williams netted a forehand.
The victory was Halep’s first against Serena Williams in four career matches, and her first win against a reigning world No. 1 in five tries.
Notes, Numbers
Halep improves to 1-8 lifetime against top 3 opponents with the win.
The Romanian is bidding to become the fourth player in WTA Finals history to win the title on her maiden appearance.
Williams had won the previous six sets against Halep, which included two bagels, and had previously owned a 3-0 lifetime record vs. the Romanian.
Williams had won 28 of 29 against top ten opposition, and 18 straight.