Halep, Siniakova set up Shenzhen final

SHENZHEN, China, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- World No. 1 Simona Halep of Romania advanced to Shenzhen Open final after overcoming No. 4 seed and compatriot Irina-Camelia Begu 6-1, 6-4 here on Friday.

Halep managed to break Begu twice in the first set. The second set saw the No. 4 seed fight harder and break Halep in the fourth game, but losing her own two serve games made the mission to come back impossible.

The two players both hit 15 winners in the match, but Begu racked up eight more unforced errors than Halep in the 89-minute match.

"It was a tough match, I know that she's a very strong player and in the second set, you could see that she was improving her game. I was strong enough to hit the ball in the end...and I'm really proud with my victory today. It was a tough one," Halep said.

Former World No. 1 Maria Sharapova ended her 8-match winning run in China, after losing to defending champion Katerina Siniakova 2-6, 6-3, 3-6. The Russian struggled with her serve, double faulting five times and losing three serve games. Siniakova hit 10 aces to clinch the victory.

"I'm so happy. You could see the emotions after I finally won the last point. It was a tough match for me, and even tougher to close it," Siniakova said. Enditem