WTA Finals: Sabalenka cruises past Sakkari, takes a step closer to locking year-end world No 1 spot
The Belarusian needs to reach the final with at least a 2-1 win-loss record in the group stage to secure the year-end top spot
Aryna Sabalenka at the 2023 US Open
World No 1 Aryna Sabalenka put on an impressive display of tennis on Sunday at the WTA Finals in Cancun as she eased past Greece’s Maria Sakkari for the loss of just one game in the opening round-robin group match for both players.
The Belarusian, who began the season with the Australian Open tile in January, won the first 11 games of the match and needed only one hour and 14 minutes to complete the 6-0, 6-1 win over Sakkari, who came in as the first alternate after Karolina Muchova withdrew.
Sabalenka’s serve helped the Belarusian tremendously on Sunday as she won 81 percent of her first serve points whereas Sakkari won only 58 percent of hers. The Greek player earned five break points on the Sabalenka serve but the Belarusian saved each one of them while converting five of nine break point chances on the Sakkari serve.
Sakkari’s unforced errors also harmed her cause – hitting 19 unforced errors to only eight winners on the day while Sabalenka hit 17 winners to 16 unforced errors in the match.
With the win, Sabalenka improves to 7-3 over Sakkari, including 3-0 in 2023 and all of her wins this year have come in straight sets. A runner-up at the WTA Finals in 2022, the Belarusian is aiming to become the first player to reach consecutive finals at the season finale since Serena Williams did so back in 2013, 2014.
Sabalenka, Pegula top Bacalar group at the end of play on Day 1 of WTA Finals
At the end of the first day’s play both Sabalenka and Jessica Pegula scored one win each. Below are the standings in the Bacalar group with the top two players advancing to the semi-finals.
- Aryna Sabalenka – 1 win/ 0 losses
- Jessica Pegula – 1 win/ 0 losses
- Maria Sakkari – 0 wins/ 1 loss
- Elena Rybakina – 0 wins/ 1 loss
The win moves Sabalenka a step closer to securing the world No 1 ranking. The Belarusian needs to reach the final with at least a 2-1 win-loss record in the group stage to shut out rival Iga Swiatek from the race and she got off to the perfect start on Sunday.
