Kerber remains undefeated
World’s No. 1 player is 2-0 at WTA Finals after beating Halep.
Top - s e e ded Angeli que Kerber is the only player in the WTA Finals Red Group to stand 2-0 in the roundrobin stage after a 6-4, 6-2 win over Simona Halep in Singapore.
Madison Keys, who needed to win her match to stay in semifinal contention, prevailed 6-1, 6-4 in which she ne ve r o f f e re d Dominika Ci bul kova a bre a k poi nt opportunity. Keys has won all four matches she’s played against Cibulkova without dropping a set.
“It’s a huge thing, especially for me as it makes you a little bit more comfortable when you’re not facing break points,” Keys said.
All four players in the Red Group remain in the hunt for a semifinal berth.
In the standings, Kerber is at 2-0, Halep and Keys are 1-1, and Cibulkova 0-2. This year marks Keys’ and Cibulkova’s WTA Finals debut.
Swiss Indoors: On a tough day for seeded players in the Swiss Indoors first round, Stan Wawrinka rallied to beat 119th-ranked fellow Swiss Marco Chiudinelli 6-7 (1), 6-1, 6-4 in Basel, Switzerland.
T h e t o p - s e e d e d Wawrinka advanced after second-seeded Milos Raonic and sixth-seeded Grigor Dimitrov both let one-set leads slip away and exited early.
Wawrinka ended his streak of four straight first-round losses in the hometown tournament of Roger Federer, whose season-ending injury ruled him out for the first time since 2005.
Wawrinka, ranked No. 3 in the world, clinched the victory with his 16th ace on his fifth match point chance against his Davis Cup teammate Chiudinelli. He next plays qualifier Donald Young of the United States.
Erste Cup: Two-time former champion Jurgen Melzer upset fourth-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut 6-3, 7-5 in the first round of the Erste Bank Open in Vienna, Austria.
The Austrian, who has dropped to 417th after a fivemonth layoff following shoulder surgery, played only his sixth match of the season at ATP level.
In front of a home crowd of 7,500, Melzer broke the 14th-ranked Bautista Agut when the Spaniard served for the second set at 5-4, and added another break to close out the win.
Melzer, who won the event in 2009 and 2010, joined fellow Austrian Dominic Thiem in the second round. The third-seeded Thiem defeated Jurgen’s younger brother, Gerald Melzer 6-0, 6-3.