WTA Finals 2025 – Rampant Rybakina continues great late-season run
A week ago, Rybakina had shown her quality by finishing as one of the top eight women’s singles players this year. Now she has reminded the tennis world that she is not just here to make up the numbers, the 2022 Wimbledon women’s singles champion has set her sights on the 2025 WTA Finals title.
Rybakina has built a reputation as one of the best ball-strikers on the WTA tour, and she demonstrated such ability in Riyadh. It was her American opponent who initiated the first breaks, before Pegula began to pick out her weaknesses to seal a double break.
From that moment on, the fifth seed never wavered again. Pegula’s serve percentage was 12 percent higher than Rybakina, but it was her low percentage of nine unforced errors against 25 that made the difference in winning the opening set.
Rybakina, number 6 in the world, left the field to relax during the substitution. She looked much more confident in her shots as she managed to beat Pegula for 3-1. The Kazakhstani had found her level and was ready to serve for the set, but mistakes reappeared and she was broken at a precious moment.
Pegula had the chance to cut the set to 5-5 – there were three game points for the American star – but Rybakina was determined and broke back with a backhand winner to force a decider at the King Saud University Indoor Arena.
Small margins would decide who would become the first finalist, and in the sixth and seventh games the two exchanged breaks, still without a breakthrough. With Pegula leading 40-15 on her serve, her grip slipped as the fifth seed suffered a double break, forcing Rybakina to close out the match for an excellent win on the purple hard courts.
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