Serena Williams suffers monumental loss to Simona Halep in WTA Finals

Serena Williams is the two-time defending champion at the WTA Finals tournament.

She didn’t play that way Wednesday in Singapore.

“Embarrassing describes the way I played today,” Williams said. “Very embarrassing.”

The No. 1 player in the world lost to No. 4 Simona Halep, 6-0, 6-2, in a round-robin match. It ended Williams’ streak of 16 consecutive victories at the year-end event.

Perhaps more significantly, it was the first time since 1998 that Williams won just two games in a WTA Tour or Grand Slam match. Williams was 16 at the time.

“My forehand was off today,” Williams said. “It’s obviously gone on an early vacation. My serve was at best at the 10-and-under division of juniors.”

Halep, on the other hand, played the match of her life. She converted five of six break points and had just 12 unforced errors; Williams converted none of her six break points and had 36 unforced errors.

“It was my best match of my life,” said Halep, who had never beaten a player ranked in the top three and had won only seven games in her two previous matches against Williams. “I played unbelievable shots. It means a lot this match. At an important time I played really well, and after today my confidence will be more high.”

Williams said of Halep: “She has never played like this before.”

Twitter: @chewkiii