The Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka defeated Italian Jasmine Paolini 6-3 and 7-5, and sure, there is one day left until the closing of the group stagehim qualification for the semifinals of the WTA Finals that will take place in Riyadh.
Sabalenka, who took one hour and 31 minutes to achieve her third victory in five transalpine matches, is closing in on her other goal, finish the year as world number one.
The Minsk player, that In his first match he defeated Zheng Qinwen of China, 6-3, 6-4added another victory in this competition that brings together the eight best players of the season. This second victory, added to Qinwen’s achievement against Kazakh Elena Rybakina in the previous duelmakes Sabalenka end up like leader of the Purple Group and qualify as quartet champions in the semifinals.
Paolini and Zheng face each other on Wednesdayon the last day, for second place and also to access the next section of the event. Rybakina has now been removed.
Sabalenka, who? has won 22 of its last 23 gameswas superior in the first set, but needed extra effort in the second set.
Despite breaking the Italian’s serve to make it 4-2, Paolini reacted and broke his rival’s serve to win three straight games, 5-4 and have two set points to take the result to the final set. . The world number one had no choice, as he won the next three and sealed his goal.
The Belarusian, winner of Cincinnati, the US Open and Wuhan within two monthsPaolini’s intentions failed, which on Saturday became the second-oldest player to win her first WTA Finals match after Chinese Li Na, 29, in 2011.
With the semifinals tied, the player from Minsk is one step away from ensuring he finishes 2024 at the top of the circuit. For this you need a victory that could already be achieved on the last day of the group stage, against Rybakina.
Source: La Verdad
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