Sabalenka advances to WTA Finals last four

Aryna Sabalenka has secured qualification for the semifinals stage of the WTA Finals with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Jasmine Paolini, as Zheng Qinwen ended Elena Rybakina’s chances of moving on in Riyadh on Monday.

With two round-robin wins in as many matches this week in Saudi Arabia, Sabalenka guaranteed herself passage to the final four as the winner of the Purple Group.

The Belarusian top seed is also just one victory away from locking down the year-end No 1 ranking, which she is in a direct battle with Iga Swiatek.

Sabalenka bounced back from 0-2 down in the second set, and saved two set points at 4-5 to overcome Italian fourth seed Paolini and has now won 22 of her last 23 matches on tour.

• Stop castigating leaders, allow God deal with them – Sultan 
• Group donates N13m Anti-Snake Venom to hospital in Gombe

“The second set was quite tricky. Honestly, I just tried to stay aggressive and show her that I’m going to fight for this set no matter what and I’m really happy I was able to win in straight sets,” said Sabalenka.

“Halfway through the second set I was already thinking about the third set. But I was like, wait, wait, it’s not the third set until it’s the third set. I’m happy all those shots on set points went in.”