FORT WORTH, Texas – World number seven Aryna Sabalenka rallied from a set down to beat second-ranked Ons Jabeur as round-robin play began at the season-ending WTA Finals.
Sabalenka shook off an error-strewn start to beat the Tunisian, a finalist at both Wimbledon and the US Open this year, 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-5 at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.
“I think it’s the biggest win of the season for me,” said Sabalenka, who was a semi-finalist in the WTA’s season finale last year but has endured a disappointing 2022 campaign.
“She played unbelievable and somehow another miracle happened for me and I was able to win this match.”
Sabalenka had to dig deep to improve her record against Jabeur to 3-1, AFP reported.
Jabeur, making her WTA Finals debut, was two points away from victory at 5-3 in the second set tiebreaker, and she had two chances to break for a 5-2 lead in the third.
But Sabalenka held on, breaking Jabeur at love to level the set at 4-4 and capturing the victory when Jabeur netted a forehand on the first match point.
“I didn’t feel welcome on this court,” Sabalenka said of her early struggles. “I couldn’t understand what was happening, the ball was bouncing too slow for me.
“Then in the second set I kind of calmed down and tried to think what I had to do to win this match.”
Greece’s fifth-ranked Maria Sakkari, aiming to improve on a semi-final appearance in the event last year, defeated third-ranked American Jessica Pegula 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (7/4) in the other Nancy Richey Group encounter.
In a rematch of the WTA Guadalajara final won by Pegula eight days earlier, she and Sakkari traded six service breaks in the opening set, Pegula twice recovering a break before Sakkari put it away in the tiebreaker.
After pocketing the first, Sakkari raced to a 3-0 lead in the second set before Pegula, who survived match points to win three times this season, broke back to trim the deficit to 3-2.
Pegula saved a pair of match points against her serve in the 12th game to force the tiebreaker, the second with a stinging backhand winner.
But Sakkari sealed it on her third opportunity when Pegula’s effort found the net.
“It’s never easy against Jess,” said Sakkari, who improved to 4-2 against the American.
“She’s an amazing player. She’s very confident right now. I knew it was going to be extremely tough but I fought hard and trusted my game.”
Sakkari said she knew from prior encounters with Pegula she had to be aggressive.
“If you’re passive, Jess is just going to make you run. She’s going to hit the ball very hard, and it’s over,” Sakkari said.
Elsewhere, Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies are back to winning ways at the Paris Masters.
The German pair dug deep to hold off home favourites Adrian Mannarino and Fabrice Martin and clinch a 6-4, 7-6(5) victory at the ATP Masters 1000 event in France. The six-time tour-level titlists saved six of seven break points they faced to notch their first win at Paris-Bercy since they reached the semi-finals on tournament debut in 2019.
Krawietz and Mies are two-time Grand Slam champions, having lifted the trophy at Roland Garros in 2019 and 2020, and the pair is chasing its first ATP Masters 1000 crown in the French capital this week. However, they face a tough second-round assignment in Paris in fifth seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos.
Also, home wild card pairing Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul saved two match points in the Match Tie-break before clinching a thrilling 7-5, 6-7(4), 15-13 win against Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski. Doumbia and Reboul’s reward for holding their nerve to clinch an epic two-hour, 10-minute battle is a second-round meeting with top seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury.
Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen also advanced to the second round by defeating Sebastian Baez and Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-4, 6-4. The Belgian duo will continue its bid for its sixth tour-level title against the in-form Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek.
The eighth-seeded Dodig and Krajieck are on an eight-match unbeaten run after triumphing in Naples and Basel in the past two weeks and are currently eighth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Rankings as they look to qualify for November’s Nitto ATP Finals.
Ninth seed Taylor Fritz kept his hopes of qualifying for the season-ending ATP Finals alive when he was among four Americans to record straight sets victories at the Paris Masters to move into the second round.
Fritz, the highest-seeded American in the draw beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 7-5 6-2 on the back of a decent first serve despite trailing by a break in the opening set.
Fritz hit only 11 winners to the Spaniard’s 20 but he converted five break points to wrap up the match in 90 minutes to beat Davidovich Fokina for the first time in three meetings.
“Really happy, he’s a tough person to play against. He’s got weapons on both sides, he’s extremely quick as well, so there’s nowhere you can really play with a lot of safety,” Fritz said.
“He makes a lot of crazy shots and he’s beaten me the past two times.”
Fritz needs to reach the final to have any chance of sealing a place in the ATP Finals in Turin ahead of Andrey Rublev or Felix Auger-Aliassime, who has won his last three tournaments.
“Turin is still in the picture, obviously, but there’s not much else I really could have done. I won Tokyo,” he added.
“Felix has played really, really well, so he deserves it, but I am going to try to steal his spot this week for sure.”
Fellow American John Isner can remove one hurdle in the form of Rublev after he booked a place in the second round against the Russian with a 6-4 7-6(3) win over Germany’s Oscar Otte.
The towering 37-year-old Isner, who finished runner-up to Andy Murray in 2016, fired 19 aces in the contest to wrap things up in 82 minutes.
Frances Tiafoe also moved into the second round without conceding a break point with a 6-4 6-4 win over Lorenzo Sonego while fellow American Maxime Cressy ousted Argentine Diego Schwartzman 6-3 6-3.
In a mixed day for the Italians, Lorenzo Musetti beat Marin Cilic in straight sets to advance but 11th seed Jannik Sinner was knocked out by Swiss qualifier Marc-Andrea Huesler who is ranked 49 places below him.
