{"id":3880,"date":"2023-10-29T22:45:35","date_gmt":"2023-10-30T02:45:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/sport\/jessica-pegula-defeats-elena-rybakina-in-straight-sets-to-open-wta-finals\/29\/10\/2023\/"},"modified":"2023-10-29T22:45:35","modified_gmt":"2023-10-30T02:45:35","slug":"jessica-pegula-defeats-elena-rybakina-in-straight-sets-to-open-wta-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/sport\/jessica-pegula-defeats-elena-rybakina-in-straight-sets-to-open-wta-finals\/29\/10\/2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Jessica Pegula defeats Elena Rybakina in straight sets to open WTA Finals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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CANCUN, Mexico — Jessica Pegula<\/a> improved to 48-0 in 2023 after winning the first set, grabbing 10 of the last 12 games to beat Elena Rybakina<\/a> 7-5, 6-2 in the opening match of round-robin singles competition at the WTA Finals on a windy Sunday night.<\/p>\n

Neither woman had won a match previously at the season-ending championships for the women’s tennis tour. Pegula went 0-3 in Fort Worth, Texas, a year ago, while Rybakina is making her debut appearance at the event for the top eight players in the world.<\/p>\n

Pegula, who is ranked No. 5, trailed by a break at 5-3, and Rybakina served for the opening set there. But Pegula broke and reeled off four games in a row to take that set. That put her in good position to win, given her success as a front-runner this year.<\/p>\n

This was the tour-leading 42nd victory on a hard court this season for Pegula, a 29-year-old American whose parents own the NFL’s Buffalo Bills<\/a> and NHL’s Buffalo Sabres<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Both women finished with 12 winners, and this was the key statistic: Pegula made only 16 unforced errors; Rybakina made more than twice as many, 35.<\/p>\n

Rybakina is ranked No. 4 after winning Wimbledon in 2022 and finishing as the runner-up at the Australian Open in January.<\/p>\n

The player who beat her in the final at Melbourne Park, top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka<\/a>, was scheduled to face Maria Sakkari<\/a> later in Sunday’s other singles match on an outdoor hard court.<\/p>\n

Sakkari is ranked No. 9 but moved into the field in Cancun when French Open finalist Karolina Muchova<\/a>, who is No. 8, withdrew from the WTA Finals because of an injured right wrist.<\/p>\n

The WTA announced in September that it would be holding this tournament in Cancun under a one-year agreement. Some players, including Rybakina, raised concerns this weekend that the temporary court was not ready for practice until too close to the beginning of competition.<\/p>\n

“This is something … I’m not happy with. I’m pretty sure the rest of the players also [are] not happy,” Sabalenka said.<\/p>\n

“It’s not great. I mean, usually we need like three to four days to kind of like adjust to the conditions. … I hope that next year, WTA will do a better job,” she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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CANCUN, Mexico — Jessica Pegula improved to 48-0 in 2023 after winning the first set, grabbing 10 of the last 12 games