World number one Halep breezed past France's Caroline Garcia at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in the end-of-season tournament featuring the world's top-ranked female players.

Playing her first match since forcing her way to the top of the rankings, Halep claimed a 6-4, 6-2 win in the first Red Group match on day two of action.

This was the first match on tour for both players since meeting in the final of the China Open two weeks ago, where Garcia claimed her first victory over Halep.

Halep avenged that loss in a swift 87 minute victory though, extending her head-to-head record against Garcia to 3-1 and ending the Frenchwoman's 11-match winning streak.  

"I feel great that the first tournament where I'm number one, I won the first match," Halep said.

"It's nice and I did enjoy the time on court." 

Wozniacki joined her at the top of the Red Group standings as she coasted past Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 6-2, 6-0.

Svitolina came into the match with a 3-0 lead in the head-to-head standings against Wozniacki, but her WTA Finals debut was one to forget after losing in just 58 minutes.

“I think I played really well and I served well and stayed aggressive,” Wozniacki said.

“It was close, especially in the beginning."

The White Group is due to continue tomorrow.

Garbine Muguruza of Spain and Czech star Karolina Pliskova both won yesterday.

Venus Williams of the United States will play Latvia's French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, followed by Wimbledon champion Muguruza against Pliskova.