Favourites win on day one in Singapore

Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza has got an early win at the WTA Finals in Singapore, scoring a 6-3 6-4 win over Jelena Ostapenko on Sunday.

The match wasn’t without controversy, with Ostapenko appearing to be upset with several of the umpiring calls during the match.

At one point she looked to be on the verge of tears.

However, after the match she pinpointed the reason for her loss as something closer to home.

“Today I was making a lot of unforced errors from my backhand side that I usually don’t miss that much, and I think it was probably because I couldn’t get used to the court and feel the bounce,” she said.

The win over Ostapenko, the French Open champ, puts Muguruza in front in the tournament’s Red group.

“I think I was fighting very well tonight, my shots were there in important moments,” said Muguruza.

“I mean, maybe her serve was maybe less effective today. I played her a bunch of times already, and, I mean, she can serve very good sometimes, like everybody.

“And sometimes, you know, you can make some double faults. When you’re aggressive, you take a lot of risk.”

In Sunday’s earlier match, Karolina Pliskova easily dispatched Venus Williams 6-2 6-2.

It was a topsy-turvy first set, before Pliskova took a decisive 4-2 lead when she broke her opponent’s serve to love, and she went on to take the set from there.

The Czech held her nerve to break the American again in the fourth game of the second set to make it a tough mountain for Williams to climb.

Williams staved off three match points before Pliskova finally managed to close the match out in 73 minutes.

Pliskova credited her serve with helping her to a comfortable win, and an early lead in the tough White group.

“Even though I don’t hit that many aces today, if I hit those for first serves, I think I have a good chance to win those matches with the serve,” she said.

In Monday’s matches, World No.1 Simona Halep opens her campaign against Caroline Garcia, followed by Elina Svitolina facing Caroline Wozniacki.

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