RIYADH, Saudi Arabia: Barbora Krejcikova ended Jessica Pegula’s chances of qualifying for the semifinals at the WTA Finals in Riyadh, defeating the sixth-seeded American 6-3, 6-3 in Riyadh on Tuesday.
A runner-up at the WTA Finals last year, Pegula suffered her second straight-sets defeat of the week and enters her final round-robin match against Iga Swiatek on Thursday anchoring the Orange Group with zero sets won.
Meanwhile, eighth-seeded Krejcikova bounced back from her opening loss to Swiatek to keep her hopes of making the final four alive.
“I was fighting for every ball and I felt that I really have to play my best tennis and I was trying to be really solid and trying to put as many balls to the other side as I could,” said Krejcikova, who picked up just her 20th match win of the season.
“I’m definitely proud. I had some very high parts of the season, especially winning Wimbledon, that’s something indescribable. And being here in the Finals is a huge privilege. It’s nice to get the win and still be part of the event.”
Despite being ranked number 13 in the world, Krejcikova qualified for these WTA Finals thanks to a new rule introduced by the WTA that gave priority to a player who has won a Grand Slam this season, while maintaining a ranking between 9 and 20, over a player ranked number eight in the Race.
As the reigning Wimbledon champion, Krejcikova claimed the final qualifying spot in Riyadh over world number eight Emma Navarro.
Krejcikova squandered a 6-4, 3-0 lead against Swiatek in her opener two days ago and made sure there was no repeat scenario against Pegula on Tuesday.
The crafty Czech fired 11 aces and broke Pegula four times to wrap up the win in 69 minutes.
Krejcikova ends Pegula’s last-four hopes at WTA Finals
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Krejcikova ends Pegula’s last-four hopes at WTA Finals
- The crafty Czech fired 11 aces and broke Pegula four times to wrap up the win in 69 minutes
Sabalenka says ‘Battle of the Sexes’ pays off after ruthless win
- Aryna Sabalenka said her much-maligned exhibition match against Nick Kyrgios had paid dividends as she demolished Cristina Bucsa on Tuesday to launch her Australian Open preparations
BRISBANE: Aryna Sabalenka said her much-maligned exhibition match against Nick Kyrgios had paid dividends as she demolished Cristina Bucsa on Tuesday to launch her Australian Open preparations.
The world number one took just 48 minutes to dispose of the Spaniard 6-0, 6-1 in the second round of the season-opening Brisbane International.
The ease of the win against the world number 50 will send a warning to the Belarusian’s rivals ahead of the Australian Open starting January 18.
She raced through the first set in just 22 minutes and took only 26 minutes to claim the second against an opponent who had no answer to the power of the 27-year-old.
Sabalenka said the fact that she played so well in her first match of the season showed that the December 28 exhibition in Dubai against the mercurial but controversial Kyrgios was worthwhile.
“I mean, when you play against a guy, the intensity is completely different,” she said.
“Especially when there is Nick, who is drop-shotting every other shot, so you move a lot, so there was a great fitness for me.
“And today I was, like, whew, let’s move around, you know.
“That exhibition, it was fun. It was a great challenge,” she added.
“I think we brought so many eyes on tennis. It wasn’t about proving something to anyone, it was able to show that tennis can be really huge.”
Sabalenka will now play either Jelena Ostapenko or Sorana Cirstea in the third round and remains on track to meet Madison Keys in the quarter-finals in a rematch of last year’s Australian Open final, won by the American.
Keys reached the Brisbane third round with a 6-4, 6-3 win over fellow American McCartney Kessler.
Like Sabalenka, Keys had a bye into the second round and said she had found it tough to find her rhythm early on.
“I think it’s sometimes a little bit harder when the person you’re playing has already played a match, and then you’re kind of trying to still knock off a bit of the rust,” she said.
“I felt like it took a little bit just to find my rhythm, but I feel like once I did it, I kind of settled in a little bit better.”
There were two major upsets in the men’s draw with second-seeded Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Canada’s fifth seed, Denis Shapovalov both losing.
American Brandon Nakashima downed Davidovich Fokina 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 while Belgian qualifier Raphael Collignon beat Shapovalov 6-4, 6-2.
