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Serena Williams reveals crisis of confidence after humiliating defeat to Simona Halep

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World number one Serena Williams has rarely suffered a humiliating loss in her glittering career, so the 33-year-old American was quick to praise her coach for dragging her out of the pit of despair to return to winning ways.

A day after she was thrashed by Simona Halep in round-robin play at the WTA Finals in Singapore, Williams was back to her brilliant best in handing out a 6-1 6-1 drubbing of Canada's Eugenie Bouchard on Thursday to close in on a semi-finals berth. The 18-times grand slam champion admitted she felt her tournament was over after Halep dismantled her game so ruthlessly but thanked coach Patrick Mouratoglou for giving her advice and the motivation to give her all back out on court.

"I was really disappointed in my play on Wednesday. I tried, but it didn't work out for me," Williams told reporters of her Wednesday defeat. "I don't really recover well from losses, but I had a really long talk with Patrick. He just was, you know, telling me what I needed to do and how to get over it.

"He was like, 'You're still in the tournament. You still have another match to play. You can't dwell on this'. But he said it over and over in differing ways, just talking positive. I started to believe that maybe I could come play another match. "I wasn't quite sure that I could. So he really was able to help me out."

FEELING MIGHTY LOW

The Frenchman's advice worked wonders for Williams as she steamrollered through Bouchard's serve to claim victory in just 59 minutes. Now Halep can do the American a favour if she takes a set off Ana Ivanovic in the final Red Group tie on Friday. Should Ivanovic, who Williams beat on Monday, fail to win in straight sets, the world number one will advance to a semi-final she felt was out of her grasp until her coach gave her the confidence to beat Bouchard so convincingly.

"He told me that I didn't have the same attitude that I normally have when I approach a match," Williams said of the Halep encounter. "Things that I did wrong and things that I could have done better. And then I think his belief was really key, because I was feeling mighty low. "I was able to feed off this belief. I know that sounds weird, even though I've won so many titles, I still at some point feel like, 'Oh, gosh. Well, maybe I might not be able to do this or maybe I might not be able to do that'.

"Especially after a loss; especially the way I performed yesterday. So I definitely don't think that I would have been able to survive today if it wasn't for Patrick. For sure." Coming into the elite eight-woman event under a cloud after she and her sister Venus were the target of what she described as "sexist, racist and bullying" comments made by Russian Tennis Federation president Shamil Tarpischev, Williams revealed he had offered a written apology to both.

"Yes, I have received (an apology)," she added. "He has reached out to apologise to both myself and my sister. It was written, so I did not speak to him." Tarpischev referred to the Americans as "the Williams brothers" on a chat show. He was fined and given a one-year ban from the women's tour for comments he described as a "joke". 

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