SINGAPORE – World number one Simona Halep believes she needs to regain her composure after suffering a shock straight sets defeat to a rampant Caroline Wozniacki at the WTA Finals on Wednesday.
The 27-year-old stunned Halep 6-0 6-2 in just 63 minutes in the Singapore Indoor Stadium to storm into the last four of the year-end tournament.
It was a bitter disappointment for Halep after an impressive opening victory over Caroline Garcia.
The 26-year-old now finds herself in a battle to reach the semi-finals, and next plays Elina Svitolina in a crunch match on Friday.
A rattled Halep said she needed to regroup from the one-sided rout. “During the points, I missed too many and I wanted to over-hit the ball,” she told reporters after the match.
“So maybe next round I have just to calm down and keep the ball in play more and make the opponent run.”
Halep lost the opening seven games of the match before she finally got on the board early in the second set.
But the Romanian was broken in the fourth game and then again on match point, capitulating with a meek forehand into the net.
Halep admitted to struggling on the slower Singapore court, but was hopeful of rebounding from the defeat.
“The court is a little bit slow and I felt a little bit heavier on court,” she said.
“I’m not thinking about qualifying. I’m thinking about playing better than today. I missed too much, if I could have kept the ball in, I could have played better.
“Everything I have in my head, I need to shake it off and play better next round.”