Aryna Sabalenka beat Karolina Muchova 7–6 (7–2), 7–5 and Mirra Andreeva defeated Elina Svitolina 6–4, 6–0 on 9 November, giving both winners an early advantage in Group 2.
Sabalenka and Andreeva began their campaigns with wins at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in California. Each player faces the other three members of her group once, with the top two advancing to the semifinals.
Belarusian world No. 2 Sabalenka is seeking her first WTA Finals title in her sixth appearance after reaching the final in 2022 and 2025. Andreeva, a Russian teenager and the 2026 French Open champion, is making her singles debut at the event.
Sabalenka won Indian Wells and Miami in March, with Miami her latest title. She lost the Australian Open and US Open finals to Elena Rybakina, leaving her without a Grand Slam singles title this season for the first time since 2022. She took a break before the Finals after winning one of her three matches during the Asian swing.
Sabalenka recovered from a break of serve down in both sets. Muchova served for the first set but was broken, and Sabalenka won the ensuing tiebreak. The second set featured five breaks of serve before Sabalenka served out the match on her second attempt.
Sabalenka hit seven double faults and four aces, landed 59% of her first serves and won 33 of 44 points behind them. She told Sky Sports that sun and shade made serving tricky, sometimes forcing her to adjust her ball toss or serve blind.
Andreeva won seven games in a row against Svitolina, backed by her impressive backhand, and saved all six break points she faced, including four in the final game. She hit nine winners and made 12 unforced errors in a match lasting 77 minutes.
Muchova, the Czech Wimbledon runner-up, is also making her WTA Finals debut. Ukraine’s Svitolina won the tournament in 2018 and had made three previous appearances.
Sabalenka and Andreeva each have one win, while Muchova and Svitolina each have one loss. Sabalenka still has to face Andreeva and Svitolina; Muchova has Andreeva and Svitolina left to play.
Each group-stage win earns three standings points. If two players are tied, their head-to-head result decides the order; a three-way tie uses matches played, followed by the percentages of sets and games won.
Group 2 is scheduled to play again on 11 November and 13 November. The semifinals are set for 14 November, with each group winner facing the other group’s runner-up; the singles final is scheduled for 15 November.
Maccabi Tel Aviv overturned a 23-point deficit against Hapoel Tel Aviv, closing the basketball final on a 50–16 run that included a 35–13 fourth quarter.
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The Italian club also dismissed the head coach’s staff, with Sassuolo 17th in Serie A on 8 points after 11 rounds.
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The club announced the separation on 4 November. Assistant coach Jorge Maciel was assigned temporary charge for the match against Real Sociedad on Thursday.
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