WTA Finals begin with a win for Sabalenka

Kicking her finals campaign off with a WIN! 👊@SabalenkaA secures a victory over Zheng and takes the first victory in the purple group! #WTAFinalsRiyadh pic.twitter.com/I2RGrA0J2v

— wta (@WTA) November 2, 2024

After what seemed like a very long Asian swing, the WTA Finals began today. World number 1 Aryna Sabalenka started things off in singles by defeating Zheng Qinwen 6-3, 6-4. Sabalenka is now 4-0 against the Chinese star. Next, Jasmine Paolini defeaed Elena Rybakina 7-6, 6-4. Not to take anything away from Paolini, who played very well, but it wasn't a surprise that Rybakina--who hasn't played much lately--lost this match. This was, by the way, Paolini's first-ever WTA Finals match. 

For her part, Rybakina--we hope--is in better physical health; she's been chronically ill since the spring. And one reason that she may have had a prolonged illness is that she apparently received significant abuse from her former coach. The 2022 Wimbledon champion is now working with Goran Ivanisevic.

In doubles, Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Ellen Perez defeated Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens 1-6, 6-1, 10-6, and Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend upset top seeds Lyudmyla Kichenok and Alona Ostapenko.

Returning to the Asian swing: The good news is that Karolia Muchova performed very well; the bad news is that she sustained yet another injury. However, it was her hip (and not her wrist) that she injured, which is a kind of inside-out piece of good news. Muchova lost to Coco Gauff in the Beijing final. This was her third loss in a row to Gauff. On her way to the final, Muchova defeated Sabalenka, and that was the third time in a row that she had beaten the world number 1.

The top  (500 and 1000 events) Asian swing champions were Beatriz Haddad Maia (Seoul), Coco Gauff (Beijing), Aryna Sabalenka (Wuhan), Daria Kasatkina (Ningbo), and Zheng Qiwen (Tokyo). Beijing an Wuhan are WTA 1000 tournaments.