Simona Halep attacked Caroline Garcia‘s surprising surge in Asia, ending the Frenchwoman’s 11-match winning streak and avenging the recent loss in the China Open final with a 6-4 6-2 victory in the opening match of the Red Group round-robin play at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.
The world No.1 Halep struggled to hold serve early into the match, and even though she broke the WTA Finals debutante Garcia at love in the fifth game, the set was back on serve in the next game, as Garcia implemented her father’s advice to keep the ball down the middle and patiently wait for the right opportunity to open the court.