Aryna Sabalenka did her homework on the last day of the Nancy Richey group of the WTA Finalsdefeated Jessica Pegula 6-3 and 7-5but needed Maria Sakkari, already qualified, to beat Ons Jabeur in the other match (01:00) or the Greek to lose in three sets to get her first pass to the tournament semifinals in her second appearance (Last year they won one game and lost two in the group stage). The first happened (6-2 and 6-3) and the Belarusian will face the winner of the other group, Tracy Austin, Iga Swiatek on Sunday.
Sabalenka, 24 years old and seventh in the world, beat Pegula, an American 28 and number three, who was eliminated and said goodbye to Fort Worth (USA) with three defeats. It is the fourth time in a row that he has fallen to Aryna, whom he has only beaten once, in their first matchup, at Cincinnati 2020.
With very little public in the stands (in that sense the tournament is being a failure), Sabalenka imposed his power, better serve and aggressive returns to counteract the stable base game of Pegula, who reacted late, when she had already lost the first set and achieved a break that did not help her to avoid it. The second round, much more even and with alternatives, was scored by Aryna thanks to a break in the eleventh game.
number two disappoints
Later, Jabeur, number two in the world, disappointed against Sakkari, who dominated it from start to finish, with 82% of points won with first serves and four breaks. Helena awaits a rival, who will come out of this Saturday’s confrontation (9:30 p.m., DAZN and Teledeporte) between Daria Kasatkina and Caroline Garcia.
