Sabalenka maintains Zheng stranglehold in winning WTA Finals start

World number one Aryna Sabalenka commenced her WTA Finals campaign in Riyadh on Saturday with a fifth victory in as many meetings against Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen of China racing to a 63 64 victory Facing off for the fifth time in the last 14 months Sabalenka and Zheng opened the action at the first ever professional womens tennis tournament in Saudi Arabia in front of a near capacity crowd at King Saud University Indoor ArenaThe Belarusian top seed needed just one hour and 24 minutes to defeat Zheng dropping a mere two points behind her first serve throughout the contest A runnerup at the WTA Finals in Texas two years ago Sabalenka is eyeing a maiden trophy at the prestigious season finale which would also guarantee her the yearend number one rankingIts going to mean everything for me thats one of my dreams and I really worked hard in the past years and I really hope that one day Ill be able to hold this beautiful trophy said 26yearold Sabalenka on court Qinwen is such a great player and we always had great battles against each other Shes playing really aggressive tennis Im super happy with the win especially against such a tough opponent I think I served really well today and I put her under so much pressure on her serve So I think my serve helped me tonightAlso ReadMaeda treble fires Celtic into Scottish League Cup finalVery little separated the players in the opening set as both dominated the points behind their first serves Sabalenka winning 1819 and Zheng winning 1316 But it was the second serve where Sabalenka found an edge and after she saved a break point in the third game the top seed broke for a 42 advantage and sealed a oneset lead in 39 minutesWith Chinese supporters representing the majority of the crowd and rallying behind their Olympic hero Zheng was near clinical through the first eight games of the second set But Sabalenka upped the ante in game nine converting her second break point opportunity to inch ahead and she closed out the win on her own serve minutes laterIn a bizarre incident Sabalenka had to wait at the net for a short moment before Zheng realised she had actually lost the match Sabalenka a threetime Grand Slam champion has now won her last seven consecutive matches against top10 opposition Zheng acknowledges there are things she must improve ahead of her next group match but was happy she could finally face Sabalenka like a usual opponen so it was positive things for meNot concerned The world number seven had her right thigh taped during the match and revealed she felt pain in her leg two days ago For the moment Im not that concerned but well see how it goes in the next two matches said the 22yearoldAfter her match Sabalenka got to meet Brazil football ace Neymar who performed the coin toss for the next clash between Jasmine Paolini and Elena Rybakina Neymar who plays for Saudi club Al Hilal gifted Sabalenka a signed jersey and took pictures with her before returning to the stadium to catch the rest of the actionIts cool right He watched my match and its a pleasure that such big players come to watch me play I was super happy to see him said Sabalenka WTA Finals debutante Paolini claimed her third win in five encounters with Rybakina with a 76 75 64 performancePaolini who also beat Rybakina in the French Open quarterfinals this season is at a careerhigh ranking of number four after reaching two major finals in 2024 in Paris and Wimbledon Its amazing Im really happy with the win today All tough matches here and Elena is playing unbelievable Its good to see her back on tour said Paolini Rybakina who has dealt with insomnia allergies and a back injury in recent months was playing her first match since she withdrew ahead of her US Open second round 10 weeks agoThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever