2024 WTA Finals Day 1: Sabalenka v Zheng, Rybakina v Paolini
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The WTA Finals start Saturday in Riyadh with top seed and tournament favorite Aryna Sabalenka opening play against familiar face Zheng Qinwen.
Sabalenka and Qinwen of course faced off in the Australian Open finals and again at the US Open and in Wuhan, all won by Sabalenka who overall is 4-0 against the gold medalist.
At stake this week for Sabalenka is also the year-end No. 1 ranking, and finishing the round-robin undefeated will clinch the top spot for her.
“That’s definitely one of the goals,” Sabalenka said. “I always been saying that for me it’s about to finish the year as world No. 1. That’s definitely one of my goals. I’ll do everything I can to finish the year as world No. 1.”
In the second match, the beleaguered Elena Rybakina takes on the new star of 2024, Jasmine Paolina. Rybakina comes in having just hired a new coach Goran Ivanisevic for 2025.
The two have split four meetings and both this year. Rybakina, though, hasn’t played since the US Open.
“The challenge going to be to return to her serve here, as always,” Paolini said. “Here especially.”
“I don’t really know what to expect. I think it’s going to be a tough match, of course. I have to play deep, trying to serve well because I think she’s going to play aggressive, of course. She’s a big server.”
SATURDAY WTA FINAL RIYAHD SCHEDULE
3:30 p.m. local time
[3] Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE) & Elise Mertens (BEL) vs. [6] Nicole Melichar-Martinez (USA) & Ellen Perez (AUS)
Not Before 6 p.m.
[1] Aryna Sabalenka vs. [7] Zheng Qinwen (CHN)
[4] Jasmine Paolini (ITA) vs. [5] Elena Rybakina (KAZ)
[1] Lyudmyla Kichenok (UKR) & Jelena Ostapenko (LAT) vs. [8] Katerina Siniakova (CZE) & Taylor Townsend (USA)
There’s only one Diriyah ✨
There will be only one singles champ 🏆#WTAFinalsRiyadh pic.twitter.com/njWzh6HGkZ
— wta (@WTA) November 1, 2024
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