Romanian tennis player Simona Halep has started off with a win in the WTA Finals in Singapore, defeating American Madison Keys by 6-2, 6-4, in the first match of the competition in the Red Group.
The Romanian player starts off her WTA Finals again with a win, after defeating Eugenie Bouchard in her first match in 2014 and Flavia Pennetta in 2015.
Keys, at her debut in the WTA Finals, started off strong with an ace and took the first game of the match. Halep quickly tied things up and managed a break (2-1), followed by a game won to love, the Romanian then conquering 13 consecutive points, the score going thus to 5-1. Keys managed to steal another game, but Simona closed the set at 6-2, after 27 minutes.
The second set had more balance, but Halep had two chances at breaking from the first game, won, eventually, by the American. Halep tied at 1 all, after saving a break point, but Keys took 2-1, taking advantage of another two break points missed by the Romanian. Halep conferred with coach Darren Cahill, and then immediately tied at 2 all, later managed a break and went all the way to 4-2. Keys also benefited from conferring with her coach, Thomas Hoegstedt, tying at 4 all, after her only break in the match. Simona, however, didn't lose her pace and immediately went for a rebreak, closing the match at 6-2, 6-4 in 69 minutes.
Halep scored in this match only 5 straight winning serves, as opposed to 16 by the American. Keys, on the other hand, however, had a very high number of unforced errors, 41, as compared to only 12 by Simona.
Halep, ranked fourth in the world and third favorite of the WTA Finals, is now leading Keys 5-1 in direct matches. Keys won, in 2014, in the first round in Sydney, by 6-1, 6-4, but was defeated in the following five direct matches by Simona, in 2014, in the second round in Rome, by 5-7, 6-0, 6-1, and this year in the round of 16 in Wimbledon, by 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-3, in the final in Montreal, by 7-6 (2), 6-3, in the quarterfinals in Wuhan, by 6-4, 6-2, and now in Singapore.
In the second match of the group, Polish player Agnieszka Radwanska, title holder, will play, on Sunday, with Dominika Cibulkova (Slovakia).