Serena romps to WTA Finals title

Serena Williams of the United States crushed Romania’s Simona Halep 6-3, 6-0 to win the WTA Finals championship in Singapore.

Williams avenged her loss to Halep in the group stage of the season-ending tournament to claim her fifth WTA championship, tied for second with Steffi Graf.

Only Martina Navratilova, with eight titles, has won more.

Halep shocked Williams 6-0, 6-2 in the group stage of the event but was unable to reproduce that performance in the final as the world number one dictated terms from the outset.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe’s Cara Black and Sania Mirza of India teamed up to win the doubles title at the WTA Finals.

The pair easily beat the defending champions, Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Peng Shuai of China, 6-1 6-0, reeling off 12 games in a row after dropping the opening game.

For Black, it was her third win in the elite event, and her first since she returned to the sport after taking time out to have a child.

The 35-year-old doubles specialist previously won with Liezel Huber in 2007 and 2008.

She and Mirza, who shared $500,000 for winning the title, only teamed up a year ago but are parting ways after the tournament.