On October 26, Serena Williams lashed back at Simona Halep for her embarrassing early loss at the WTA Finals just a few days prior, in a report by Reuters.com.
At the WTA Finals, Romanian Halep gave American Williams her worst defeat since 1998 with a final score of 6-3, 6-0. In a report by Yahoo! Sports, Halep knew then that Williams was going to avenge her terrible loss. The unusual format of the WTA Finals made a rematch happen just after four days. Even though Williams lost in the group match, she could proceed to the round-robin stage.
Halep said to Sports Illustrated before the rematch, "Every time when I go on court I just want to do everything I can to win the match. I play with pleasure. I love tennis. That's why. I don't care about results, but when the results are coming so I'm really happy." She commented about Serena, "She's very strong. It's good that I played against her this week. I have more experience now. I know how she's playing, how she's hitting."
On Sunday, Williams decimated Halep with a 6-0, 6-2 victory, winning the year-ender for the third straight time and securing her position at No. 1 worldwide.
In a report by StraitsTimes.com, Simona's fans were chanting the underdog's name and waving Romanian flags at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore, but Williams showed that she was the better tennis star.
Williams started slow but recovered immediately. Yahoo! Sports wrote in the same article that Halep broke Williams' second service game to gain an early advantage. Williams, however, kept going stronger as the game progressed until the Romanian could no longer respond. Williams managed to pull away in the middle of the first set and win eight consecutive games.
In a report by New York Times, Williams said, "She was playing so well, like she did the last time we played, and I literally was on this side of the court, and I just laughed. I was like, 'Serena, you have nothing to lose - just relax!' And then once I relaxed, I just started playing better and making my shots."
In a post-game news conference, Halep said based on the same Yahoo! Sports report, "I have no power now to have emotions anymore. I feel okay but I cannot say that I feel happy. Every time when I lose I'm sad."
She added, "She deserves to win the title. She's much better. So yeah, it's O.K. I have no regrets."
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