Sunday 22 October 2017 16:59, UK
Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza and Karolina Pliskova both made sensational starts to the WTA Finals in Singapore on Sunday.
Muguruza served warning of her intention to win the tournament and become year-end world No 1 as she crushed Jelena Ostapenko 6-3 6-4.
Earlier in White Group, in the tournament's opening match, Pliskova demolished 37-year-old Venus Williams 6-2 6-2 in 73 minutes.
Muguruza, the freshly crowned WTA player of the year was far too solid for an erratic French Open winner Ostapenko, winning in 85 minutes to open her campaign.
The Spanish world No 2 stuttered at the finishing line when she was broken when serving for the match. But she regrouped to eventually serve it out in the 10th game.
Muguruza, 24, said she was pleased to overcome the late jitters. "I wanted to win so badly and she was just not giving me anything," she said.
"I waited for my moment, where I served and tried to take control. It went well."
Czech world No 3 Pliskova, playing in her second consecutive WTA Finals, overwhelmed a sluggish Williams, who is back in the elite tournament for the first time since 2009.
"I think my serve was good today, it could be better but I hit some aces," Pliskova said in a courtside interview.
"Maybe the score looks a little easier than it was. I think it was very tough - from the baseline we were both playing pretty fast and pretty good shots so it was an amazing match I think.
"There are no easy matches here in Singapore so you have to be ready from the first point - that's what I was trying to do today and it worked."
The match was an anti-climax for Williams and an early blow to her bid to be crowned No 1 for the first time in 15 years.
Williams said she was confident of rebounding from the defeat. "Yeah, I have been in this position before," she said. "I felt like I returned well today. I just didn't execute as well during the point."
Sky Sports will have all the action from the Erste Bank Open in Vienna and Swiss Indoors Basel before the Paris Masters.
The Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan and season-ending extravaganza World Tour Finals at London's O2 in November end another memorable year which will be covered via our website sky.mnosports.com/tennis with live blogs and updates as the season reaches its climax.
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