Rybakina beats World No 1 Sabalenka at WTA Finals Ryadh

World No 5 Elena Rybakina finished her season by defeating World No 1 Aryna  Sabalenka at the WTA Finals in Ryadh, Saudi Arabia, Kazinform News Agency learned from Sports.kz.

She faced Sabalenka in the last match of the Purple Group and beat her sensationally in three sets - 6:4, 3:6, 6:1.

Thus, in the Purple Group, Rybakina won once and was defeated twice by the Italian player Jasmine Paolini (ranked 4th) - 6:7, 4:6 - and China’s Zheng Qingwen (ranked 7th) - 6:7, 6:3, 1:6.

This became Aryna Sabalenka’s first defeat in the tournament, earlier she beat Qingwen - 6:3, 6:4, and Paolini - 6:3, 7:5.