Simona Halep began her quest for a maiden WTA Finals title with a convincing 6-0, 6-3, win against US Open champion Flavia Pennetta.
Halep, who is the top seed at the tournament, started the match strongly against the world No.8 as she didn’t face a break point throughout the opening set. The left achilles injury which forced the Romanian to withdraw from the China Open didn’t appear to be a factor during the swift 72-minute match.
After seven consecutive games in Halep’s favour, US Open champion Pennetta finally got on the scoreboard at the start of the second set which was substantially more competitive than the first. Despite the rise in Pennetta’s form, Halep was once again too strong for the Italian. During a lengthy game towards the end of the second set, the world No.2 broke Pennetta’s serve with her fourth break point of the game for an opportunity to serve for the match. This was no issue for Romanian who comfortably took the win on her second match point.
Halep won 63% of the points played throughout the match (59/93) with the help of 2 aces, winning 79% of her first service points and 82% of her second.
Following her comprehensive victory against Pennetta, Halep said that every match in the WTA Finals is like a ‘final of a Grand Slam’ in her on court interview.
“I started the match really well. I played my best in the first set, fast, smart and aggressive,” Halep said.
“I was really enjoying the match today. I was really happy to be back here. It became a tough match, though. Every match here is like the final of a Grand Slam – I played the semifinals with Flavia in the US Open. I knew she’d play better and the second set was much tougher.”
Pennetta will now need to produce two strong results in her upcoming matches against Maria Sharaiva and Agnieszka Radwanska in order to move beyond the round robin stages. Following her crushing defeat to the world No.2, the US Open champion told reports in her press conference that she needs to be more aggressive in her next match.
“I think I have to recover a little bit, to have more energy, to be more aggressive, and that’s going to be my goal for the next match for sure”. She said.
The win is sweet revenge for Halep, who lost in straight sets to Pennetta in the semifinal of the US Open earlier this year. The tournament in Singapore is the last in Pennetta’s career after she recently ruled out participating in the Olympics next year.
