The strong Danish Caroline Wozniacki has set the course for her semi-final entry at the WTA final in Singapore with her second victory in the second match. Wozniacki (27), who was seeded sixth, declassified the world number one Simona Halep (Romania) 6-0,6-2 in the Red Group.
After 63 minutes, Wozniacki turned her first match point in the Sports Hub. In her opening match on Monday against Ukrainian Jelina Switolina (No. 4) the former number one had only played two games. The last opponent of Wozniacki in the group stage on Friday is the French debutante Caroline Garcia (No. 8), who will meet Switolina on Wednesday afternoon (CEST).
For Halep, it was the first defeat at this year’s tournament of the top eight players in 2017. Wozniacki, the two-time US open-ended finalist, will be back at the end of the season for the first time since 2014.
On Tuesday, the former industry leader Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic) had already prematurely qualified for the semi-finals of the seven-million-dollar indoor event in the Asian city state.
Last year’s Singapore finalist Angelique Kerber and defending champion Dominika Cibulkova (Slovakia) failed to make it into the female field this time.
The only German starter is Anna-Lena Grönefeld (Nordhorn) in the double competition. The 32-year-old will meet the top seeded duo Martina Hingis/Young-Jan Chan on Thursday with her Czech partner Kveta Peschke. The Swiss and Taiwanese had won the US Open in September.