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Defending champion Coco Gauff, Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek return to the WTA Finals for the last stop in this year’s Calendar. The season-ending showcase have the top-eight players in the WTA Race go up against each other for the trophy.
Besides Gauff, three more Americans, Jessica Pegula, Madison Keys and Amanda Anisimova have made the cut. They will be joined by Jasmine Paolini and Elena Rybakina. From all-American encounters to potential semifinals between recent title winners Gauff, Swiatek and Rybakina, there are plenty of exiciting possibilties. With action starting soon, let’s take a look at the prospects of the top names in fray:
Group Steffi Graf
Defending champion Coco Gauff and World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka headline the Group Steffi Graf. The other two names in the group are Jessica Pegula and Jasmine Paolini.
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The American’s path to title defence is precarious. She has lost three of her four matches against Paolini this year and lags in the overall head-to-head against Pegula 3-4.
In a respite though, the youngster beat both seasoned opponents at Wuhan in their most recent meetings and walked away with the title. She is also working with a specialist coach to iron out the serving issues. In Wuhan, she braved through the double faults and managed to win even when she was not playing her best tennis.
Gauff also holds a positive 6-5 record against Sabalenka. She had beaten her in the semifinal of the same tournament last year and will take confidence from that win.
The conditions in Saudi Arabia do favor big-hitters like Sabalenka, but she will need to be patient as the three women in her group and among the fittest and quickest around the courts. Sabalenka still leads the field with number of titles won: four (including the US Open). If she can find her range on the groundstrokes though, she can be hard to stop.
Between Pegula and Paolini, the recent momentum lies with the latter despite her poor 0-5 win-loss record against her. The Italian made a late push for the Finals spot. Her performances in Asia, semifinals in Wuhan and Ningbo and a quarterfinal in Beijing, would have given her a huge boost of confidence and she will be eyeing a few upsets.
Picks: Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff
Group Serena Williams
Group Serena Williams is crowded with power-hitters in the form of Amanada Anisimova, Elena Rybakina and Madison Keys. The three women are among the ace leaders for the year and will thrive in the indoor conditions.
Rybakina, the last player to book a spot in the WTA Finals, is on a hot streak. She has won seven straight matches (a title in Ningbo and semifinal in Tokyo before withdrawing from the tournament) and comes into the tournament fresh off a reunion with her old coaching set-up.
In fact, the Kazakh looked in ominous form throughout Asia. The ace leader with 468 (nearly 100 more than No. 2 Linda Noskova) unreturned serves will be a nightmare to return against in the conditions.
Iga Swiatek is the only player who holds a positive win-loss against Rybakina. The Pole is a clean 4-0 against the in-form player, but three of those matches came early in the year.
The former World No. 1 also has an edge over Keys in the head-to-head 5-3 and has split her two meetings with Anisimova. In these lighting fast conditions though, she can find herself on the backfoot. Despite a title in Korea (at the 500 level), she also did not have the greatest of Asian swings and will need to turn things around.
Much like Rybakina, Anisimova has also had an incredible second half of the year. The Wimbledon and US Open finals, as well as a second WTA 1000 title of the season in Beijing has cemented herself as a force to reckon with on fast surfaces.
Keys will be a bit of a wildcard in the group, having not played any matches since the US Open. She has the weapons needed to beat any opponent on her given day, as evidenced from her stellar run to the title at the Australian Open. However, facing the best in the world directly after a break though may prove to be an uphill battle for her.
Picks: Elena Rybakina and Amanda Anisimova
Predicition for semifinals
Elena Rybakina def. Coco Gauff
Amanda Anisimova def. Aryna Sabalenka
Prediction for final
Elena Rybakina def. Amanda Anisimova
