Amelie Mauresmo made a powerful start in her bid to end the year as world number one with a 6-1, 6-0 rout of Vera Zvonareva at the WTA Championships on Thursday.
Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova also made a strong debut by beating U.S. Open winner Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-1, 6-4, while former winner Serena Williams posted her second victory in the eight-woman tournament, 7-6, 7-5 against Elena Dementieva.
Second-ranked Mauresmo, looking to topple number one Lindsay Davenport, played inspired tennis throughout the 54-minute contest.
The Frenchwoman committed only six unforced errors to 25 from Zvonareva who was clearly tired from playing five weeks in a row to qualify for the tournament.
Serving with variety and authority and controlling play off the ground with deep, booming groundstrokes, Mauresmo cracked 15 winners.
"She was very confident, served really well and hit unbelievable groundstrokes," said Zvonareva, who has now lost twice in the Black Group.
"It's tough for me to come here for the first time and show my best game," said the Russian, at number eight the lowest seed in the tournament.
Sharapova, hitting winners from all over the court, withstood a strong rally from Kuznetsova in the second set, breaking her to take their Black Group match with an inside-out backhand return winner.
The 17-year-old had lost her only two previous meetings with her fellow Russian but, playing on a fast indoor surface, she was able to keep the points short and dictate play with her serve and return. She hit 23 winners to only nine from Kuznetsova.
"Playing indoors is to her advantage because she doesn't have to move as much," said Kuznetsova, who beat Zvonareva in their opening match on Wednesday.
"I had to do something different with my game, but I didn't. I didn't serve well and she returned pretty good. She didn't let me build me game."
Williams, who beat third-ranked Anastasia Myskina in three sets in the Red Group on Wednesday, took her season-ending tournament tally to 8-1 with victory over twice grand slam finalist Dementieva.
She won the tournament in 2001, lost in the 2002 final and missed the event last year.
Davenport allowed Dementieva only one game in a crushing win in the Red Group on Wednesday.
