By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Monday November 4, 2024

Aryna Sabalenka is taking care of business in style at the WTA Finals.

The World No.1 faced a stern test on Monday, but found her way past Italy’s Jasmine Paolini in a tight tussle, 6-3, 7-5 in 90 minutes to clinch first place in her group and book her spot in the semifinals.

Sabalenka, who jumps to 56-12 on the season and 40-7 on hard courts in 2024, can lock up the No.1 ranking with a win over Elena Rybakina on Wednesday (or if Iga Swiatek loses on Tuesday). Rybakina was eliminated from semifinal contention on Monday when she lost to China’s Zheng Qinwen, 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-1.

Paolini and Zheng will meet for second place in the Purple Group on Wednesday, with the winner qualifying for the semifinals along with Sabalenka.



“It was a tough match,” Sabalenka said of her battle with Paolini. “She’s such a great player, putting so much pressure, moving well and serving great.”

Sabalenka took control of the match early, reeling off the first four games. The Italian, making her WTA Finals debut this week thanks to a brilliant season that featured runner-up performances at Roland-Garros and Wimbledon, recaptured one break but couldn’t get any closer.

Paolini had set points in the second set with Sabalenka serving at 4-5 but the three-time major champion came through in the clutch and won 10 of the final 12 games to lock down her victory.

Sabalenka admitted that for a moment she was preparing for a third set in her mind, but she didn’t let it affect her performance.

“The second set was quite tricky, honestly I didn’t know, I was just trying to stay aggressive and show her that I was going to fight for the set no matter what – I’m really happy to close this match in straight sets.”

Sabalenka improves to 3-2 lifetime against Paolini overall.

Rybakina drops to 1-2 against Zheng, who earned her maiden WTA Finals win against the 2022 Wimbledon champion. Zheng, this year’s Olympic women’s singles gold medalist in Paris, wasn’t happy that she let Rybakina force a first-set tiebreak and a deciding set, but was pleased with how she dominated the decider to win in 2 hours and 24 minutes.

“Finally in the third set I started to play my tennis again,” she said.