Sabalenka surges ahead in Riyadh’s WTA Finals spotlight
With aces slicing through the desert air, Aryna Sabalenka asserts her year-end dominance, as Jessica Pegula turns a friendly rivalry into a hard-fought win over Coco Gauff, igniting the round-robin battles.
In the electric hum of Riyadh’s arena, the WTA Finals kicked off with top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka dismantling No. 8 Jasmine Paolini in a 6-3, 6-1 rout that lasted just 70 minutes. The world No. 1 unleashed 10 aces, four of them hammering home in the first set’s closing game, while landing 82.7% of her first serves to control the fast indoor hardcourts. This victory marked her 500th at the WTA level, a milestone that underscored her grip on the year-end top spot after accepting a trophy for it the day before.
Sabalenka channels calm into commanding serves
Sabalenka’s delivery varied with inside-out angles that stretched Paolini wide, forcing short returns ripe for her deep crosscourt forehands to finish points. The Belarusian stayed locked in, her baseline game pinning the Italian back and turning potential rallies into swift conclusions on the slick surface. Paolini, coming off a doubles win with Sara Errani the previous day, couldn’t find traction against the power, her speed neutralized by the relentless serve pressure.
She reflected on the mental edge that kept her steady through the opener.
“I was focused, I was calm, and it felt like everything was in control,” Sabalenka said.
Building on her season’s progress, she added pride in the ongoing refinements that have elevated her game.
Pegula turns Gauff’s faults into group momentum
In the same group, Jessica Pegula outlasted defending champion Coco Gauff 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-2, pouncing on 12 double faults that plagued her opponent’s serve. One came at set point in the opener, gifting it to her former doubles partner, while three straight in the second set’s late stages broke Gauff again and forced a tiebreaker she couldn’t hold. Pegula’s steady returns, often crosscourt to exploit the angles, absorbed Gauff’s power and stretched the court, especially after their Wuhan final clash three weeks prior where the roles reversed.
Pegula spoke to the layered challenge of facing a close friend in such a high-stakes setting.
“Coco is a great champion, great competitor, good friend. So it’s always tough playing her,” she said. “I don’t think there’s any secrets with this group of girls here.”
Her tactical patience, mixing one–two combinations to disrupt rhythm, paid off in the decider, where Gauff’s errors mounted under the pressure of defending her title.
Round-robin tests year-end resolve
Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina set a strong tone with their Saturday victories, raising the bar in a format where two groups of four feed the top two into semifinals, demanding unflinching consistency. Sabalenka treats the event like any title chase requiring five wins, her pragmatic focus on every point a blueprint for navigating the grind. As the desert heat mirrors the mounting tension, these openers reveal how serve reliability and mental resets will shape pathways, with familiar rivalries adding emotional weight to the tactical chess.
Gauff’s lapses highlight the narrow margins on these quick courts, where a steady toss could steady her holds against returners like Pegula. Sabalenka’s poise, meanwhile, suggests she’s built to defend her perch, her words capturing the drive forward.
“I’m super happy and super proud of the work that has been done and that things are working, and I’m getting better and better every day,” she said. “And I just hope that we’re going to keep doing what we’re doing, and hopefully we can stay there.”
She added that the tournament feels routine in its demands:
“I take this tournament as a regular tournament that I have to win five matches if I want to win the title. So I’m just trying to bring my best tennis and fight for every point.”
The crowd’s energy pulses with each ace and fault, the arena’s controlled climate amplifying every echo of baseline exchanges. With Swiatek and Rybakina looming, Pegula’s resilience positions her well, while Gauff’s adjustments could reignite her fire. In this culmination, players like Sabalenka embody the blend of power and psychology needed to emerge from the group fray, eyes fixed on semifinals and beyond.