World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka is off and running at the WTA Finals in Riyadh. The Australian Open and US Open champion took her first step towards not just her first year-end title, but the year-end No. 1 ranking, with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Zheng Qinwen in the first round-robin match in the Purple Group.
Sabalenka, who hopes to hold off Iga Swiatek and finish in the top spot, faced just one break point in the entirety of the one-hour and 24-minute match to improve to 5-0 against Zheng overall. That chance came for the Olympic gold medalist at 1-1 in the opening set, but Sabalenka fought it off—Zheng missed a backhand return wide and long—and was never challenged on her serve the rest of the way.
Sabalenka credited her delivery—she won 94% of the points played on her first serve in the match and serve just one double fault, in the match’s final game—for making the difference in the comprehensive victory.
“I’m supper happy with the win,” Sabalenka said. “I think I served really well tonight, and I put her under so much pressure.”
“She’s such a great player and we’ve always had great battles against each other. She’s playing really aggressive tennis, and she kind of forces me to step in and really go for it.”
