Tennis
The Belarusian world number one Aryna Sabalenka reached the semi-finals early at the WTA finals in Riyadh. The winner of this year’s hard court Grand Slams Australian Open and US Open celebrated her second victory in the second game on Monday with a 6:3 7:5 against the Italian Jasmine Paolini.
This means Sabalenka can no longer be denied a place in the knockout round; with another win she would be number one in the WTA rankings at the end of the year.
The Chinese Zheng Qinwen beat the Kazakh Jelena Rybakina 7:6 (7/4) 3:6 6:1 in the second game of the day in Saudi Arabia, where the tournament for the best eight players at the end of the season is taking place for the first time.
Zheng and Paolini will duel in Group A for second place in the semi-finals on Wednesday.
WTA-Finals in Riad
(Saudi Arabia, $15.25 million, hard court)
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