Sabalenka unleashes backhand fire in Riyadh milestone win
Relieved of ranking pressures, Aryna Sabalenka channels her energy into the WTA Finals, overpowering Jasmine Paolini in a swift 500th-match victory that hints at a title run built on precision and calm.
In the crisp air of Riyadh’s King Saud University Indoor Arena, Aryna Sabalenka arrived for her 500th WTA match with the year-end No. 1 ranking already in hand, allowing her to channel every ounce of focus toward the WTA Finals title that has long slipped away. Facing Jasmine Paolini in the opener of the Stefanie Graf Group, she dismantled the Italian’s defenses with a blend of explosive groundstrokes and steady serving, securing a 6-3, 6-1 triumph in just 70 minutes. The hard-court surface, skidding balls low and fast under the bright lights, played to her strengths, as the crowd’s building anticipation underscored a performance that lifted her tournament record to 9-8 and marked her 12th top-10 victory of the season.
Backhand surges break early resistance
Sabalenka set an assertive tone right from the start, holding her opening service game before targeting Paolini’s backhand with a crosscourt winner that earned an immediate break for a 2-0 lead. Her backhand, a weapon sharpened through a grueling year, produced many of her 24 winners, including a down-the-line strike that extended the advantage to 3-0 and forced the Italian into constant retrieval on the indoor hard courts. Even when Paolini held and broke back to narrow the gap to 4-3, Sabalenka regrouped swiftly, using another backhand to drag the game to deuce before a forehand winner clinched the re-break, her movement fluid and unhurried amid the arena’s echoing rallies.
The psychological edge showed in how she redirected Paolini’s flat shots, opening the court with deep crosscourt exchanges that limited the eighth seed’s counterpunching opportunities. This tactical patience, honed over 60 wins this season—matching Iga Swiatek’s 62 for the first such pair since Serena Williams and Agnieszka Radwanska in 2013—kept her composure intact, turning potential momentum shifts into mere blips. As the set progressed, the thud of balls against the baseline grew sharper, the crowd sensing her growing command.
“We’ve played a lot, and every time it’s a tough battle,” Sabalenka said after the match. “It doesn’t matter what the score is. I know I always have to stay focused, and if you give her an opportunity, she’s going to step in and take control of the game. So, I think I’m most happy with my focus today. I was calm, and it felt like everything was under control.”
Serves deliver control in key moments
With the first set at 5-3, Sabalenka’s serve stepped up to seal the frame, wiping out a 0-30 deficit with back-to-back aces and adding two more to wrap it in 36 minutes, her 11 aces and zero double faults highlighting placement over raw power. She exploited the wide angle on the deuce side early to save a break point and force deuce, learning from the subsequent break to return there with devastating effect in the set-clinching game, the ball kicking away from Paolini’s stretch. This precision suited the court’s speed, where predictability allowed her to vary depths and angles without erratic bounces disrupting her rhythm.
In the second set, variety amplified her dominance; trailing at 1-3 on serve, she fired an unreturnable wide serve on double break point, following with an ace and forehand winner to hold firm. Leading 4-1, she combined a backhand winner with a down-the-T ace to consolidate, blending her ground game with serving that dictated points from the outset. Paolini, serving to stay in the match at 1-5, raced to 40-0, but Sabalenka strung together five straight points, finishing with a forehand winner that echoed through the arena and capped a statement opener.
The World No. 1 kicks off her campaign! @SabalenkaA defeats Paolini in straight sets 6-3, 6-1.#WTAFinalsRiyadh pic.twitter.com/XPGsPq7iTn
— wta (@WTA) November 2, 2025
Rivalry deepens with tournament resolve
This result stretched Sabalenka’s edge over Paolini to five consecutive wins and six of seven meetings, the Italian now down 10 straight sets since her last victory at Indian Wells in 2022, including a round-robin loss in the previous Finals. Yet the world No. 1 views the head-to-head through a lens of present focus, treating the event as a straightforward path of five matches rather than group intricacies. She revealed post-match that she avoids dwelling on round-robin dynamics, instead approaching each encounter with the urgency of a decider, bringing her best tennis to fight for every point on these indoor courts.
Paolini’s speed and flat hitting pose ongoing challenges in the format’s round-robin phase, but Sabalenka’s adaptations—from backhand redirects to serve variations—neutralize them effectively, as seen in how she capitalized on the surface’s low bounce to keep rallies short and punishing. The victory not only positions her atop the group but underscores a season of endurance, with her milestone match serving as a pivot toward semifinals contention. As the tournament unfolds, tracking the Scores, Draws, and Order of play will reveal her path, fueled by the buzz around @SabalenkaA and #WTAFinalsRiyadh, where her calm authority promises to reshape her Finals legacy one precise point at a time.
