Day 1 of the 2023 WTA Finals Cancun is in the books. Jessica Pegula and Aryna Sabalenka secured opening wins in the tournament’s group stage.
The fifth-seeded Pegula kicked off the event with a 7-5 6-2 victory over the fourth-seeded Rybakina in the Bacalar Group on a windy Sunday night. Rybakina was serving for the first set at 5-3, but Pegula then won ten of the last 12 games to clinch her first victory at the WTA Finals after going 0-3 last year in Fort Worth.
Both players finished with 12 winners, but it was the staggering disparity in unforced errors that proved pivotal: Pegula committed 16 unforced errors, while Rybakina struggled with over twice as many, registering a total of 35.
Pegula has won a Tour-leading 42 matches on hardcourts this year, winning titles at Montreal and Seoul; only two American players have won 40+ hardcourt matches in a season this century – Lindsay Davenport, 2001, 49, and Serena Williams, 2013, 47.
After the match, Rybakina cricitized the organization of the tournament and court conditions:
Overall, it’s not easy here. Everyone is struggling. Everyone is trying to do their best. As I said, I’m not really happy with the conditions and the set up of the tournament.. About the court, I don’t really want to talk. But of course, it’s not…
