Serena Williams began the defence of the WTA Finals crown today with a straight sets win over Ana Ivanovic in her first round-robin match in the Red Group of the season-ending tournament Singapore.

The win was Serena’s 16th successive victory in the WTA Finals as she aims to win the tournament for a third consecutive year, which would see her finish the year top of the rankings.

She stated afterwards that, ”I’m really excited with how I played. I couldn’t be happier to be playing here in Singapore. I was fighting really hard,” adding, ”I’m getting better, which is
great. I just have to keep doing my program so that by the end of the tournament – if I’m still here – it’ll still be getting better.”

The world number one broke Ivanovic’s serve early in the opening set before racing to a 4-1 lead, withstanding a rally from Ivanovic – who levelled at 4-4 – to win the set 6-4 courtesy of a double-fault in the last game by the Serbian.

Ivanovic opened the second set by breaking Serena’s serve, only for the American to break right back in the next game as Serena went in to seal a 6-4, 6-4 win at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Meanwhile, the White group serves off on Tuesday, with world number two Maria Sharapova up against Caroline Wozniacki while Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova taking on Agnieszka Radwanska.