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Aryna Sabalenka and Jessica Pegula were the first two winners at the WTA Finals in Cancun, Mexico on Sunday. The no. 1 player in the world and the world’s fifth-highest ranked player who are grouped together in the Bacalar Group, played their first round-robin match-ups against Maria Sakkari and Elena Rybakina respectively.
In her match against the Greek, Sabalenka took just an hour and 14 minutes to dismantle her opponent’s game, 6-0, 6-1. In fact, the scoreline of the second set would’ve been 6-0 had Sabalenka been able to make good of one of the triple match points she had.
However, despite the match slipping away from her hands from the get-go, Sakkari didn’t concede her ground and laid claim to a game, before Sabalenka secured the win. Sabalenka saved all five break points that came up in the match.
Of these only one came in the second set. The 25-year-old dropped just four points of 16 played on her first serve but won five of eight points played on return on Sakkari’s first serve. On her own second serve, Sabalenka was shaky but she still did better to win eight of 11 points played on return on the eighth seed’s second serve.
