Romania's Halep to play Canada's Andreescu in her first match at WTA Finals 2019

Romanian tennis player Simona Halep will play her first match in the Purple Group of the Shiseido WTA Finals Shenzhen, China, on Monday against Canadian player of Romanian heritage Bianca Andreescu, according to WTA. 

The match between Halep, 28, world number 5, and Andreescu, 19, world number 4, a first, will be the second to be played on Monday, after the world number two Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic) versus defending champion Elina Svitolina (Ukraine) fixture. 

The 14-million-USD tournament will start on Sunday, with two Red Group matches: Naomi Osaka (Japan) versus Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic), same as this year's Australian Open final, and Ashleigh Barty (Australia) versus Belinda Bencic (Switzerland). 

Former number one Halep, the 2019 Wimbledon singles winner, participates for the sixth time in the WTA Finals, which brings together the best eight players according to the results recorded during the year. The Romanian player reached the final in 2014, at her debut, while in 2018 she had to forfeit due to an accident.