“Personally I’ve never seen her play like this, ever,” Serena said afterwards.
“I’ve been practicing really, really well and hitting the ball really solid. I don’t think I hit solid today, but again, she took balls early and she played really, really solid.”
But at the WTA Finals, even if you lose a round robin match, you’re not out yet.
“I feel like once you lose you should be out of the event,” Serena said.
“But I’m still hanging in there, so we’ll see what happens.”
And she most certainly hung in there, qualifying for the semifinals with a 2-1 round robin record then edging Caroline Wozniacki, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6), to reach the final.
Where, perhaps fittingly, Halep awaited.
And this time, it was all Serena—just four days after suffering one of the worst defeats of her career to Halep, she got her back in almost as dominant fashion, winning 11 of the last 12 games of the match en route to a 6-3, 6-0 victory and her third consecutive (and fifth overall) WTA Finals crown.