Halep and Svitolina through in Shenzhen

Simona Halep saved a match point on her way to beating Bianca Andreescu and earning an opening win at the season-ending WTA Finals in Shenzhen.

The Wimbledon champion won 3-6 7-6 (6) 6-3, while in another Purple Group match Elina Svitolina saw off Karolina Pliskova 7-6 (12) 6-4.

Halep was on the back foot for much of the match against the surprise US Open winner, losing four straight games in the opening set and twice surrendering a break in the second.

Andreescu held match point on Halep’s serve in the 12th game of the set but the Romanian battled back to force and win a tight tie-break, then had to come from behind again after falling a break down early in the third.

Halep said: “I’m really proud that I could fight in this way because I had a month when I didn’t really practise with my back injury, but it looks like I’m still there.

“Today, it was a challenge because she’s 10 years younger than me. It was a good fight,” she added.

Andreescu is aiming to cap a magnificent season with victory in Shenzhen and admitted she would learn much from the experience of pushing Halep so close.

The Canadian said: “I think I was executing the right tactics and I didn’t feel intimidated at all stepping on to the court.”

Defending champion Svitolina was also made to fight hard before seeing off Pliskova in the opening match of the day.

Svitolina came from a break down in the opening set and saved a set point in a marathon tie-break, in which she finally took advantage of a seventh set point of her own.

She also fell a break down in the second set but battled back strongly to win four of the last five games.