RIYADH: The semifinals of the 2025 WTA Tour Finals will pit world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka against Amanda Anisimova and Jessica Pegula against Elena Rybakina, after Sabalenka eliminated defending champion Coco Gauff on Thursday.
Earlier, American Jessica Pegula edged past Italy’s Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 6-3.
In other match of the day, top seed Aryna Sabalenka beat Coco Gauff 7-6, 6-2.
Action in the Stefanie Graf Group has come down to the wire with three of the four players all in with a chance of moving on to Friday’s semifinals.
Pegula improved to 4-1 head-to-head against eighth seed Paolini, and avenged her recent defeat to the Italian in the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in Shenzhen.
“Today I finally got a straight-set win for the first time in like a few months. I served very, very well and was very aggressive. There weren’t any negative notes today,” said the 31-year-old Pegula.
Elena Rybakina and Amanda Anisimova have already punched their tickets to the final four by finishing in the top two spots of the Serena Williams Group.
Fourth seed Anisimova of the United States came from behind to beat second seed Iga Swiatek of Poland 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-2.
With Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan having already secured a semifinal spot as winner of the Serena Williams group, Anisimova and Swiatek, both with one win and one loss before the match, faced off in a decisive showdown for the remaining semifinal berth.
The two had met twice earlier this year, as Swiatek swept 12 straight games to dominate the Wimbledon final, while Anisimova got her revenge in the U.S. Open quarterfinals.
In the opening set, both players held serve tightly. Although Anisimova earned four break points, Swiatek saved them all and prevailed 7-6 (3) in a tiebreak after the first 12 games went on serve.
The second set remained highly competitive. Anisimova saved three break points in the third game to hold serve, and the two traded holds until 5-4. In Swiatek’s fifth service game, the American seized her chance for a crucial late break, winning the set 6-4 to level the match.
In the decider, Anisimova continued to apply pressure on Swiatek’s serve.The Pole saved the first service game, but double-faulted on break point in her next game. Leading 5-2, Anisimova broke again to close out the match 6-2 and complete the comeback victory.
“The first set was super tough,” Anisimova said afterwards. “I think I just made less errors in the second and third set, I was trying to play higher percentage tennis and just keep going for it. I think I was going for my serve a lot more. I just knew that I was going to have to step my level up a little bit if I wanted to win the match in the end.” Agencies