Intro:

Serena Williams suffers resounding 6-0, 6-2 defeat at the hands of Simona Halep at the WTA Finals in Singapore on Wednesday.

Script:

Serena Williams was annihilated by Simona Halep at the WTA Finals on Wednesday.

In one of the most one-sided losses of the 18-time Grand Slam champion's career, she lost in straight sets 6-0, 6-2.

The last time Williams managed to win just two games in a WTA Tour or Grand Slam match was in 1998 when she was just 16.

The loss in the round-robin match halted Williams' 16-match winning streak at the year-end championships, where she is the two-time defending champion.

The fourth-ranked Halep had never before beaten a player ranked in the top 3 and in her previous two matches against Williams, both last year, the Romanian had won a total of just seven games.

Halep, runner-up at this year's French Open, beat Eugenie Bouchard in her opening match and moves to 2-0 in the Red Group.

Williams slips to 1-1 and will face Bouchard next.

Williams' defeat jeopardised her chances of finishing the year as the top-ranked player. Had she won on Wednesday, the only way she could have lost the No. 1 spot is if Maria Sharapova won the title.

Now, just reaching the final may be enough for the Russian, depending on the result of Williams' match against Bouchard on Thursday.