WTA Finals: 'Match was tough' - Aryna Sabalenka moves into semi-finals with win over 'great player' Jasmine Paolini
Published 04/11/2024 at 19:28 GMT
World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka paid credit to her team after defeating a "great player" in Italy's Jasmine Paolini 6-3 7-5 to reach the semi-finals of the WTA Finals. The Belarusian has now qualified for the semi-finals and will prepare to face the already-eliminated Elena Rybakina following her 7-6(4) 3-6 6-1 defeat at the hands of China's Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen earlier in the day.
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Video credit: TNT Sports
Following her straight-sets victory over Jasmine Paolini at the WTA Finals in Riyadh, Aryna Sabalenka stated that the work of her team gives her extra motivation to “keep winning” after becoming the world No. 1.
Sabalenka defeated the Italian 6-3 7-5 to book her place in the semi-finals with one group game to spare.
"The whole match was tough," she said after her win. "She's [Paolini] such a great player, putting so much pressure, moving well, serving great.
"I'm super happy with this win tonight and the second set was quite tricky.
"I was just trying to stay aggressive and show her I'm going to fight for this set no matter what.
"I'm really happy to close this out in straight sets."
Sabalenka paid credit to her team after the win.
“I’m really proud of not only myself, but of my team,” she said. “We overcome a lot of things and we were able to show such good tennis and become world No. 1. It’s teamwork, it’s not just me.
"Behind-the-scenes work nobody sees, but they do a lot for me and I really appreciate everything they do for me. This is motivation for me to keep winning on this court because I think those guys deserve to be the best team ever.”
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Sabalenka stormed into a 4-0 lead in the opening set after breaking her opponent's serve twice. Paolini responded by breaking back in the fifth game, but the deficit proved too much as the Belarusian took the first set 6-3.
Sabalenka had to weather an early storm in the second set after Paolini broke in the second game to take an early 2-0 lead. The world No. 1 responded immediately in the third game by breaking back before breaking again in the fifth game to flip the lead 3-2 in her favour.
The world No. 4 refused to roll over, breaking back in the eighth game to tie the set at four games apiece. Crucially, Sabalenka took advantage of her first break point of the 11th game to steal a 6-5 lead and serve for the match, which she did in style.
Despite the victory securing her passage to the semi-finals, Sabalenka will face Elena Rybakina in her final group match on Wednesday knowing a win would secure the year-end No. 1 ranking.
Rybakina was eliminated following a 7-6(4) 3-6 6-1 loss to China’s Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen earlier in the day.
No. 5 seed Rybakina returned to the court on Saturday after a two-month period of injury and illness, losing in straight sets to Paolini.
The result keeps Zheng’s hopes of progression alive, with her match against Paolini on Wednesday set to decide the second player through to the semi-finals from the Purple Group.
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