Fourth seeded Simona Halep cruised past Canadian star Eugenie Bouchard 6-2 6-3 in the first day of round robin play at the WTA Finals in Singapore on Monday.

In their first WTA Finals appearance, the 23-year-old Romanian stormed in front and broke the fifth seeded Bouchard to gain a 4-0 advantage but Bouchard could only delay the inevitable as both players held on to their serves and Halep served out for the set.

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Halep was again ruthless in the second set as she broke Bouchard two more times to win the match in an hour and 18 minutes

The French Open finalist Halep had 11 winners and 11 unforced errors while Bouchard committed five double faults including the last game at match point.

Both players had prior injuries as Halep pulled out from Beijing while Bouchard withdrew at Linz.

"I'm really happy I found my game again," said Halep. "I was very aggressive and made some winners. I played well. I'm really happy with this match."

Bouchard, 20, has nothing to be ashamed of as she became the highest-ranking Canadian tennis player in history, both male and female, at World No. 5 even surpassing compatriot Milos Raonic who was ranked No. 6 last July.

Bouchard had a stellar year, reaching the semifinals of both the Australian Open and French Open, appearing in her first finals of a Grand Slam tournament in Wimbledon and winning her first WTA tournament in Germany last May.

With World No. 1 Serena Williams winning against Ana Ivanovic in an earlier match, Red Group has finished its first round robin of play and will take a day off on Tuesday while White Group goes to the center court in their opening matchups.

World No. 2 Maria Sharapova will square-off with Danish star Caroline Wozniacki in the first match while Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova will face Rogers Cup title holder Agnieszka Rawanska after.

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