Simona Halep has scored a hard-earned 6-4 6-2 win over Caroline Garcia at the WTA Finals in Singapore.

The result snapped an 11-match unbeaten run for the Frenchwoman, who was unable to keep her good form going in her Finals opener as Halep took out the match in 88 minutes.

Garcia made the World No.1 work for it early, with the second game of the match lasting eight minutes and 45 seconds before Halep finally managed to hold serve.

The two traded breaks of serve soon after but Halep broke again in the ninth game, and then served it out in another nerve-wracking game to win the set.

Long games were the order of the day in the first set, which took 48 minutes and a physical toll on both players.

The second set continued in the same close manner before Halep won five consecutive points to come back from 0-40 down to hold serve in the fourth game before closing out the match.

Monday’s late match features Elina Svitolina of the Ukraine taking on Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki.