WTA Tennis 2014 Finals, Results & Scores: Serena Williams First Loss; What Went Wrong?

On October 22, Serena Williams had her worst showing since 1998. Responsible for this heavy defeat in the WTA Finals is Romanian Simona Halep.

In a report by Yahoo! Sports, Halep beat Williams 6-0, 6-2 in dominating fashion. It was a huge win for Halep considering that she broke Williams' 16 consecutive wins at the WTA.

At the start of the match, Williams sent down an ace immediately. However, it would turn out to be one of only nine points that the 18-time grand slam champion would make in the opening set. According to Reuters.com, Halep's serves were powerful and within 12 minutes, she was already ahead of the American 409. Williams appeared surprised at her poor showing. She failed to send simple groundstrokes over the net several times. She also added six double faults from the few second serves.

At one point, Williams managed to get out of a predicament by upping the score 2-1. However, her rally was short-lived as Halep made another ace and increased her lead to 3-1. The Romanian could feel the victory getting nearer and she stayed relentless on the attack with various groundstrokes until the score was beyond Serena's reach at 5-2.

Serena said, "Embarrassing describes the way I played today. Very embarrassing." She added, "My forehand was off today. It's obviously gone on an early vacation. My serve was at best at the 10-and-under division of juniors."

Halep said about her game, "It was the best match of my life. I played unbelievable shots. It means a lot this match. At an important time I played really well, and after today my confidence will be more high."

Halep is ranked at No. 4 and it was her first time to defeat a player in the top 3. Two years ago, Halep was at No. 47. Her win against Williams will most likely improve her ranking further.

The last time that Williams garnered only a couple of wins at either the Grand Slam or WTA was in 1998, when she was only 16 years old. At that time, Serena was playing her ninth career tournament in Oklahoma City and was No. 42 in the world rankings. She was beaten by No. 27 Joanette Kruger with a final score of 6-1, 6-1.

After that, her next worst showing was in 2000, where she won only three games and lost the match. In a report by USA Today, Serena retired from a match in Zurich in 2007 due to a thigh injury. The score was 6-0, 3-0 against her favor.