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At the advanced age of 33, Serena Williams suffers the occasional lapse. There are times on the tennis court when she's not fully engaged. On Wednesday, she took a brief mental siesta against Simona Halep -- and wound up winning only two games in her worst loss in more than 16 years. But when the prize is directly in front of her, Serena usually responds. On Sunday, Williams and Halep met in the season's last match in Singapore's BNP Paribas WTA Final, which seemed to get Serena's attention. Williams wrecked Halep 6-3, 6-0 in a contest oddly devoid of drama. Experience, apparently, counts for something. It was over in 69 minutes and Serena won her third consecutive year-end title, and her fifth overall; Halep, who was born 10 years and one day after Williams, was appearing in her first WTA championship. To put Williams' accomplishment in context, consider that her three-peat is the first at this tournament since Monica Seles did it in 1990-92. How long has Serena been at this? Her first year-end title came 13 years ago. And for lovers of trivia, we offer this nugget: Singapore was the fourth host city to see Serena crowned champion, after Munich, Doha and Istanbul.  Halep actually led the opening set two games to one, but Serena finished with a flurry, winning 11 of the last 12 games (including the last eight) and collected a check worth more than $2 million. "Yeah," Serena said afterward, "I lost to her a couple of days ago so I knew she was capable of playing really well. I knew I had to play better if I wanted to win. I did what I had to do to play better." Serena finishes with the WTA's year-end No. 1 ranking for the second consecutive year. Maria Sharapova is No. 2, followed by Halep at No. 3. Essentially, Serena played uber-aggressive tennis, which forced Halep to go for too much. Halep, who is listed at 5-foot-6, 132 pounds, relies on her speed and timing. Her serve isn't exactly a weapon, but her complete game has evolved dramatically in the past two years. On Sunday, Serena dominated that serve. Standing with her toes on the baseline, she won 15 of Halep's 28 first-serve offerings (54 percent). Moving inside the baseline (sometimes as much as 4 feet), Williams won 15 of Halep's 23 second serves (66 percent). That will get you home in straight sets almost every time. Halep came out with confidence but quickly became tentative. "She was playing so well at the beginning," Serena said in her on-court interview. "I laughed. "I told myself to just relax, and once I did that, I started playing better and making my shots." Serena was leading 4-2 when two double faults and a Halep forehand winner cost her the game. And so, with Serena talking to herself and asking her team where the double faults were coming from, Halep served at 3-4. A deft drop shot gave Serena the advantage at deuce and a shaky backhand (wide) from Halep gave her the most pivotal game. Going forward, Halep will be a factor. She reached the French Open final and the Wimbledon semifinals before scuffling for the past two months with injuries. Halep is one of the most improved players in women's tennis, along with Eugenie Bouchard and Belinda Bencic. She entered the year with a losing record in Grand Slams (10-14) and won 17 of 21 major matches. In a year that saw the four Grand Slams won by four different players, this one puts Serena over the top. It was her seventh title and it follows her triumph at the US Open. When she is focused and healthy, there is no one in women's tennis who can consistently beat her. Earlier in Singapore, she said she'd like to play at least through the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, which would give her at least two more seasons. That title in New York was her 18th Grand Slam singles crown, equaling Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert. There are only three women still ahead: Margaret Court (24), Steffi Graf (22) and Helen Wills Moody (19). Is it realistic to expect Williams to catch Court? Probably not, but given today's landscape, she seems capable of winning two or three more. It's typical of Serena that her last match before Singapore was a walkover earlier this month in Beijing, when a gimpy knee led her to withdraw from a quarterfinal match against Samantha Stosur. "I didn't expect this," she said. "I had such a bad knee in Beijing. I didn't know if I was going to play. And now I've won the Billy Jean King Trophy again -- it's an amazing feeling."
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