WTA Finals tennis: Jessica Pegula beats Jasmine Paolini, Aryna Sabalenka defeats Coco Gauff – as it happened | WTA Finals
Key events
Pegula wallops Paolini and Sabalenka blitzes Gauff, the two winners moving into the semi-finals
Jessica Pegula and Aryna Sabalenka delivered excellent performances in seeing off Jasmine Paolini and Coco Gauff respectively, setting up enticing semi-finals against Elena Rybakina and Amanda Anisimova.
Pegula, who played superbly in losing to Sabalenka earlier in the week, dominated Paolini – struggling with illness – from start to finish, her forehand particularly effective in 6-2 6-3 victory.
In the day’s second match, Gauff began superbly, her serve and forehand looking much improved as she took a 4-2 15-40 lead. But just as she looked poised to seize the first set, Sabalenka found her best self, saving the break points with two service winners, then responding from advantage down with three aces in a row.
Gauff, though, stuck with her, holding under pressure to secure a tiebreak and earning its first mini-break. But again, Sabalenka responded well to pressure, fighting back to snaffle the set before dominating the second, breaking twice to lead 4-0 before closing out the match to send the champion home.
It’s in interesting thing, actually: how some players are better when on the edge and others when perfectly chill. I’m not sure which Sabalenka is because when she’s emotional, she can deliver brlliance, but might also implode; either way, she’s the best in the world and it’s not that close.
She says she was focused on getting the win and seeking to avenge Roland Garros. She’s not happy that she’s put herself in dangerous situations, but her opponents are playing incredible tennis and she’s glad to find the best of herself in those moments.
She’s really happy Anisimova is back playing well and knows it’ll always be a good match when the two meet. She’s at her best, she reckons, when she’s in the moment and not getting emotional – the evidence of today suggests to the contrary! – and off she goes.
The thing about paying Sabalenka is that the power never wanes, and few can play well enough to withstand it for the entirety of a match … anyway, here she is.
The semi-finals line up as follows:
Aryna Sabalenka v Amanda Anisimova
Elena Rybakina v Jessica Pegula
I’d not like to be a ball in that first match.
The first set of the match was sensational, Gauff forcing Sabalenka to search deep inside herself for the response, and when it came she just couldn’t handle the ferocity. She is, though, making strides – on serve and forehand – but she’s not there yet.
Aryna Sabalenka beats Coco Gauff 7-5(5) 6-2
A big first serve, a return into the net; a big first serve, a return way wide. Gauff then gives herself hope with a forehand winner – on return, down the line only to overhit after landing another pleasingly deep. At 40-15, Sabalenka has two match points … and she only needs one, another big first serve inciting a return into the net, and the world no 1 wins the group with three wins from three; Pegula joins her in the semis.
Ach, down 0-15, Gauff sends down a double, then swats a forehand wide, and this is a bit of a daughtering-off; facing a second serve, Sabalenka steps in, waits for a friendly bounce, and runs around her backhand to mince a forehand winner down the line. She leads 7-6 5-2 and will shortly serve for the match and semi-finals.
Oh man, Sabalenka swings a ludicrous backhand winner down the line for 30-0, but shortly afterwards, two forehands, the second a terrific return down the line, take us to 40-30, and the world no 1 nets for deuce. So Gauff goes again, attacking the serve and making advantage, then a superb forehand get is followed by an amazing backhand cross-court to seize back one break – from 40-0 down. Sabalenka leads 7-6 4-2, but for the first time in a while, the champ is in the match.
Gauff is doing her best to give off vibes of impassivity, but she looks like she’s been hit by a wrecking ball; a wrecking ball with sculptor’s hands and dancing feet. She does, though, make 40-15, holds to 30, and that’s her first game in a while; Sabalenka leads 7-6 4-1.
Tell you what, the best of the matches this week have me properly amped for next season: it’s a long, long time since we’ve had so many brilliant players all able to beat each other. Actually, in the 42 or so years i’ve been enjoying this stuff, i don’t think it’s ever been like this. Which of them is best, though, is not currently in doubt and two mahoosive serves, one of them an ace, make 30-15 … then she nets a forehand. In the context, this is a chance for Gauff, and though it’s soon 40-30, a double, Sabalenka’s first of the match, hands over deuce. But then a forehand pass down the line drops fractionally long, a second is dumped low into the net, and at 6-7 0-4, the champ is nearly gone.
Gosh, Sabalenka gets to 0-30 then dominates the next point too … until a really good forehand reverses momentum. But, asked to play another ball, Gauff overhits her overhead, then goes long, and suddenly this match is near enough over, the world no 1 up a set and a double break at 7-1 3-0. This is seriously impressive stuff from Saba, wearing an elite opponent producing something like her best stuff before tasking her apart.
At 40-0, Gauff saves a third love-hold in a row – from 2-4 15-40, Sabalenka has served like God, if God were lucky enough to be Aryna Sabalenka. She consolidates to 15, and it feels now like the only thing that can stop her is herself.
By which I mean I love watching Gauff and her defensive work is stupendous, but she doesn’t take my breath away with the scope of her talent in the way Sabalenka does. And, as she gets older, Sabalenka is getting better at finding the best of herself when she really needs to – see her match against Keys the other day – and, as I type, she breaks to 30. Gauff, the defending champion, has serious work to do if she’s to get out of this; the world no 1 leads 7-6 1-0.
Aryna Sabalenka takes the first set against Coco Gauff 7-6(5)
Gauff saves the first, but it’s back to the old one-two serve out wide, buggy-whip forehand to the opposite corner, and Sabalenka seizes a first set despite being second-best for the majority of it. She’s just so good – now – at converting anger and frustration into tennis; when Gauff served at 5-4, a break looked extremely unlikely, but then the magic intervened and here we are.
Sabalenka quickly gets the mini-break back, then hauls herself level at 4-4 with a monstrous serve; it’s so hard to split these two. But another service winner gives her 5-4, the ball screeching out wide and somehow bouncing on the line … then the pressure tells, Gauff serving a fault. Sabalenka moves in, the double is completed, and at 6-4 she has two set points.
The “Let’s go x!, let’s go”chant, surely the worst in sport, echoes around the aryna arena, then Sabalenka misses the chance to pass on the run to secure a mini-break, directing a backhand into the net; 2-1 Gauff. Then, finding herself at the net once more, following yet more excellent defence from the American, she overhits her backhand clean-up, perhaps spooked by the retrievals into going for the line. At change of ends, Gauff leads 4-2, and her forehand is hiolding up brilliantly.
A forehand winner gives Gauff 15-0; a forehand error hands over 15-all. But Gauff quickly makes 40-15 and when she desperately retrieves from the corner, her squash shot deceives Sabalenka, who nets her overhead, so here comes the tiebreak we and this set richly deserve.
Has momentum switched? Sabalenka holds to love for 6-5 and leads for the first time in the match. How will Gauff’s new serve stand up under the pressure that’s coming her way – from game-state and very game opponent?
A forehand drop is too good for Sabalenka and makes 15-0; comms point out that Gauff has won every second-serve point in the set. And it’s nearly hers, a netted backhand taking her two points away from it. But a ball on to the baseline incites the American to go wide, then Sabalenka finally gets after a second delivery, taking charge of the rally and eliciting the error; 30-all. And what a point comes next, the world no 1 hitting great lengths from the back before rushing in, in pursuit of a net cord, flicking back a fine response that’s too good … then a forehand winner, just inside the sideline, secures the break-back for 5-5, and this is by far the best match I’ve seen this week, in terms of standard, excitement and intrigue. MORE MORE MORE MORE.
Up 30-0, Sabalenka unleashes a trademark serve out wide, clean-up forehand into the opposite corner; she holds for love, forcing Gauff to close out set one at 5-4.
Gauff is loving this and she holds to 15, meaning Sabalenka will now serve to stay in the set at 3-5, while telly confirm that there’s no three-set permutation that eliminates Pegula.
There’s something about playing Sabalenka that gets Gauff going; she’s frighteningly absorbed in the match. After her French Open win, I doubt she was gratified to hear her vanquished opponent bemoan the worst final she’d ever played, nor to hear her assert that the outcome reflected her shortcomings, not her opponent’s strengths. But there’s more to it than that, I sense, and, as I type, Gauff forces two points for the double break; she’s on one here. The first is saved via backhand down the line, the second with a serve out wide, but on deuce, Gauff goes down the line with a high-kicker, knowing the response will probably come cross, feeding her backhand … and it does, so she spanks a winner, line. She’s putting the points together really nicely here, feeding Sabalenka balls and anticipating the response … which is all very well, but there’s nothing you can do about a serve this violent, three aces in a row making light of a tricky situation. Gauff leads 4-3 in the first, and this is a seriously immersive battle of wits and fury.
I’m enjoying the expletive out of this; granted, it’s biologically impossible not to. Gauff makes 15-0 when her forehand, targeted by Sabalenka, holds up well … then again when it wrests control of the rally before whipping a top-spin winner down the line. An ace for 40-0 follows, then the world no 1 sends an inside-out backhand wide, and that’s the break endorsed, Gauff up 4-2 in the first.
There’s serious aggression here, both players hurling the entirety of their corporeality into their shots. Gauff leaps into a backhand that facilitates a vicious overhead winner, then another table tennis forehand gives her 0-30; Sabalenka responds with an unreturnable serve and forehand; 30-all. But Gauff gets to 30-40 and a forehand into the top of the net secures another break for 3-2, the contrasting demeanour of our players extremely evident: Gauff is focused, intense and calm; Sabalenka is distracted, intense and furious.
Sabalenka’s best point of the match so far makes her 0-15, forehands from the back too much to handle. And when Gauff isn’t decisive enough at the net, missing two chances to put away, she’s passed cross-court for 0-30; the a backhand into the net raises three break-back points. The first is confiscated with a forehand winner hit cross – it’s almost a table tennis smash – but when a further forehand drifts long, we’re back level at 2-2 in the first, the match starting to proceed as we thought it might.
Gauff is seriously focused for this one ands looks to have a plan: keeping Sabalenka on her bike, both side to side and out to in. She’s also looking to get after any second serve she’s sent, and those tactics get her to 30-all; from there, though, the hold is secured, and Gauff leads 2-1 in the first, with a break.
We said earlier that Gauff might draw Sabalenka to the net, and her slice, off both wings, is doing just that. She makes 40-15 and already, Sabalenka is on a rolling boil, thwacking a return wide to hand over the consolidation; she leads 2-0 and this is already extremely fascinating.
Sabalenka goes long on the backhand but soon makes 15-all then, at 30-15, she swipes a backhand wide, bringing a bit of pressure to her first service game. And another backhand, bludgeoned wide, offers Gauff an immediate break point; she retrieves two terrifying forehands, the second of which asks Sabalenka to play a volley … and she nets! Gauff leads 1-0, just as I said she would.
Righto, we’re good to go, Sabalenka to serve. Ready … play.
It’s also worth noting that in that French Open final, conditions were minging. Indoors, with no elements interfering, Sabalenka’s colossal game gives her the advantage because she can unleash her power with a pretty solid idea of what’ll happen next.
So how will our second match go? Well, we know Gauff’s issues: she’s remodelling her serve while competing, and has an unreliable forehand but, on the other hand knows she can beat Sabalenka on the big occasion, having diddled her in the final at Roland Garros.
So Sabalenka will target her in those areas having played brilliantly in overcoming Pegula the other day; real talk, it’s hard to look past her. But Gauff is amazing at finding a way and will, I think, look to keep her opponent moving, perhaps pulling her into the net, and hoping she’s a bit off her best. I’ll level with you, I can’t really see a way.
