Rybakina downs Swiatek in WTA Finals to extend winning streak, Pegula beat defending champion Gauff

Elena Rybakina extended her winning streak to eight consecutive matches with an impressive 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 victory over second-seeded Iga Swiatek in round-robin play at the WTA Finals in Riyadh on Monday.

After cruising past Amanda Anisimova in her opener on Saturday, Rybakina claimed her second win of the week to move to the top of the Serena Williams Group and plant a foot in Friday’s semi-finals.

Rybakina was the last of the eight singles players to qualify for this season’s WTA Finals, and she did so by clinching the title in Ningbo and reaching the semi-finals in Tokyo in the last two weeks of qualifying tournaments of the regular season.

“I’ve been playing really well the last few weeks. I was improving each match and of course the results were following after,” said the 2022 Wimbledon champion.

“It’s a great opportunity to play here against the top players. I’m really excited about the next matches and hopefully I can bring the same intensity and the same game.”

Rybakina went into the clash having lost all four of her meetings with Swiatek in 2025, and it looked like she might suffer a fifth straight defeat to the Pole when she dropped the opening set in 35 minutes.

But the Kazakh sixth seed adjusted tactically, utilising her kick serve and big forehand to maximum effect to sweep 12 of the next 13 games and complete the upset in one hour and 37 minutes.

“It’s always very tough to play against Iga, she brings so much intensity on the court. In the second set, I pushed myself, the serve improved and I’m happy I stepped in and played much better,” said Rybakina.

“Mentally I’m happy I stayed focused no matter if I lost the first set, I was still trying to stay aggressive.

“I hope I can keep playing like this for the rest of the tournament.”

Earlier, defending champion Coco Gauff struggled with double faults as Jessica Pegula beat her 6-3 6-7(4) 6-2 on Sunday. Two-time Grand Slam winner Gauff committed 17 double faults and 45 forehand unforced errors as she lost to Pegula in the second game of Group Steffi Graf.

The match began with five straight breaks, until Pegula managed to hold her serve to go 4-2 up. Gauff saved two set points, but her struggles with double faults in the final game sealed the first set in Pegula’s favour.

Third seed Gauff bounced back in the second set, landing five aces and forcing Pegula to stay near the baseline. Gauff broke early to build a 5-4 lead, but committed two double faults as Pegula got the break back to make it 5-5.

Gauff broke again to go 6-5 up and was serving for the set, but committed three straight double faults to lose the game. The 21-year-old finally secured the set in a tiebreak.

Pegula was better prepared for Gauff’s pressure tactics in the third set, as the fifth seed found the perfect angle for a forehand return from the baseline to go 3-2 up with a break.

A struggling Gauff could not win another game, registering 75 unforced errors in the 112 points she lost in the match.

“Coco’s a great champion, great competitor, good friend, so it’s always tough playing her... I just tried my best today to execute where I could,” Pegula said.

Meanwhile, the tennis world took notice when Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko won the Montreal title in August with victories over four Grand Slam champions along the way, and the Serena Williams comparisons were not far behind.

The parallels with the 23-times Grand Slam champion were not misplaced.

Mboko became the youngest player since Williams to defeat four major winners in a tournament when she downed Sofia Kenin, Coco Gauff, Elena Rybakina and Naomi Osaka to claim the WTA 1000 crown in Canada.

The 19-year-old rookie went on to prove that triumph was no fluke, backing it up with the Hong Kong title on Sunday when she outlasted Spaniard Cristina Bucsa 7-5 6-7(9) 6-2 in the longest tour-level final of the season.

Ranked 350th in the world this time last year, Mboko stormed into the top 20 for the first time when the list was updated on Monday and now sits 18th with an impressive win-loss record of 60-14 in 2025.

“It feels really nice to finish the season with a win. I try to stay calm and not put too many expectations on myself,” Mboko said after battling for two hours and 49 minutes in Hong Kong.

“There are so many talented players, you never know what’s going to happen. I like to take things day by day.

“I’m just really happy I managed to win another title, keep myself pumped up and stay positive in the third set, even though I was super tired and Cristina was playing great tennis and fighting hard.”

Agencies