On Tuesday, Maria Sharapova suffered a crushing loss to Caroline Wozniacki that hurt her chances of passing Serena Williams for the No. 1 world ranking in women's tennis at season's end.
On Wednesday, Williams one-upped Sharapova. Or is that one-downed?
No. 4-ranked Simona Halep of Romania handed Serena Williams her worst defeat in 16 years, a 6-0, 6-2 rout in the round-robin WTA Finals in Singapore that also ended Williams' 16-match winning streak at the season-ending event.
Williams is the two-time defending champion in the event.
"Embarrassing describes the way I played today," said Williams to BBC Sport, adding she had served better in junior tennis.
She lost 6-1, 6-1 to a player named Joannette Kruger in Oklahoma City in 1998, the last time she won only two games during a match.
Halep, the French Open finalist who gained a measure of revenge in her opening match in Singapore by beating Eugenie Bouchard 6-2, 6-3 after Bouchard bounced her in the semifinals of Wimbledon in the summer, did say she played at a level of tennis she hadn't experienced before.
"It was my best match of my life," Halep said. "I played unbelievable shots. It means a lot this match."
Halep is 2-0 in Red Group play, Serena Williams and Ana Ivanovic are 1-1, and Bouchard was eliminated at 0-2.
Sharapova, the No. 2 player in the world, gets ready to play Petra Kvitova in an elimination match in the White Group. Wozniacki plays Agnieszka Radwanska in a match of the winners from the White Group's first round.
If Sharapova can regroup, she could have a chance to overtake No. 1 Serena. Williams has beaten Sharapova 15 consecutive matches, but may not get out of pool play if she doesn't improve in her next match.
Of course, the same can be said of Sharapova.
Who will emerge from the WTA Championships as the No. 1 player? Serena Williams or Maria Sharapova? Comment below or tell us @SportsWN.
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