Jessica Pegula beats Elena Rybakina in straight sets to open WTA Finals

Associated PressOctober 29, 2023 09:06 pm Eastern Time2 min read

CANCUN, Mexico – Jessica Pegula improved to 48-0 when she won the first set in the first match of the 2023 singles round-robin tournament in Cancun, Mexico, and has won 10 of her last 12 games. Defeated Elena Rybakina 7-5, 6-2. The WTA Finals were played on a windy Sunday night.

Neither woman had previously won a match at the Women’s Tennis Tour’s end-of-season tournament. A year ago, Pegula won 0-3 in Fort Worth, Texas, while Rybakina made her debut at an event featuring the world’s top eight players.

Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka lost her 2022 WTA Finals title match to Caroline Garcia after winning her first 11 games and another on Sunday Defeated Maria Sakkari 6-0, 6-1 in singles match. Sabalenka is trying to become the first player since Serena Williams in 2013-14 to reach the finals in consecutive years.

Sakkari was ranked No. 9, but entered Cancun when No. 8 French Open finalist Karolina Muchova withdrew with a right wrist injury.

The fifth-ranked Pegula broke serve when trailing 5-3, and Rybakina served in the first set. But Pegula broke serve in four consecutive games and won the set. Given her success as a front-runner this year, that puts her in a good position to win.

It was Pegula’s tour-leading 42nd win on hard courts this season. Pegula is a 29-year-old American whose parents own the NFL’s Buffalo Bills and the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres.

The two women ended up hitting a combined 12 winners, and here’s the key statistic: Pegula made just 16 unforced errors; Rybakina had more than twice as many, at 35.

Rybakina, who won Wimbledon in 2022 and finished runner-up to Sabalenka at the Australian Open in January, is currently ranked fourth.

The WTA announced in September that it would host the event in Cancun under a one-year agreement. Some players, including Rybakina, expressed concern this weekend that temporary pitches would not be ready for training until closer to the start of games.

“It’s something that… I’m not happy with. I’m pretty sure other players are not happy with it either,” Sabalenka said.

“It’s not good. I mean, normally it takes us three to four days to get used to the conditions… I’m hoping next year, the WTA will do better,” she said.