by Few players were able to beat tennis legend Serena Williams, and those who did quickly got a taste of their own medicine.
That applies to Simona Halep, who handed Williams one of her most devastating defeats of her career.
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In 2014, when Williams was in the prime of her career and reached the WTA finals in Singapore, there was little to suggest the American would suffer a crushing defeat.
The seven-time Wimbledon women’s singles champion moved closer to her second clean sweep of Grand Slams, having won the US Open and the Australian Open, Roland Garros and Wimbledon the following year.
Their 6-0, 6-2 loss to Halep made sense to few considering the level Williams was playing at at the time.
Having won just two games against the Romanian, it was the most one-sided defeat of her career at that point.
Speaking to reporters after the game, Williams said of Halep’s performance: “I personally have never seen her play like that.
“I trained very, very well and hit the ball really solidly. I don’t think I scored a good goal today, but she took the ball early and played really, really solidly.”
Luckily for the American, the final WTA rules state that you are not eliminated from the tournament even if you lose a round-robin match, which she questioned even if it had given her a lifeline.
“I think if you lose once, you should be out of the tournament,” Williams said. “But I’m still hanging in there, so we’ll see what happens.”
And hang in there, she did. Williams qualified for the semifinals with a 2-1 round-robin record before defeating Caroline Wozniacki 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6) in the final four games.
And as is often the case with sports scripts, her chance at redemption was only waiting for Halep to stand between her and another title.
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But there was no repeat of the previous day’s carnage as Williams cruised to a 6.3, 6-0 victory, winning 11 of the final 12 games of the match.
The victory gave Williams her third consecutive WTA Finals crown and her fifth overall.
It was also the only time in WTA Finals history that a player lost in the round-robin phase to another player in straight sets before defeating her in the final.
“I knew she would be more motivated in this game because we played a few days ago and I won that game,” Halep said after the final.
“She is the best. She is a great player and deserves to win this title.”
“I knew I had to step up my game,” Serena said. “I knew I had to play a lot better, so of course I expected a much better player than in previous rounds.”
