Tennis, WTA Finals 2025: Elena Rybakina shocks Jessica Pegula to reach maiden year

The fairytale run of Elena Rybakina goes on at the 2025 WTA Finals.

After topping her round robin group with a 100 per cent record, the tennis player from Kazakhstan is now into the title match in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Rybakina came from behind to defeat USA's Jessica Pegula 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in two hours and five minutes in the singles semi-finals on Friday (7 November).

The world No. 6 now awaits the winner of the second semi on Friday, which sees world no. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and fourth seed Amanda Anisimova face off for the fourth and final time this season.

“The serve helped me when I needed it,” a victorious Rybakina said on court after notching 15 aces. “I tried to stay focused each point, we had some very tough rallies. I’m really happy in the end - I managed to push myself a bit more and I won it.”

Rybakina, 26, has been on a phenomenal run of form to close the 2025 season, where she only booked her WTA Finals spot a week prior. She has defeated three higher seeds in Riyadh and has a shot at her maiden year-end title.

For Pegula, it is a heartbreaking end to the campaign after playing a third three-set match in six days at the season-ending championships. The U.S. fifth seed concludes the 2025 season with three WTA titles and a tally of 50 victories on tour.

2025 WTA Finals: Full schedule, all results, scores and standings – complete list

2025 WTA Finals – Rampant Rybakina continues stellar season-end streak

A week ago, Rybakina had shown her quality by finishing as one of the top eight women’s singles players this year. Now she has reminded the tennis world that she is not just here to make up the numbers, the 2022 Wimbledon women's singles champion setting her sights on the 2025 WTA Finals title.

Rybakina has earned a reputation as one of the best ball strikers on the WTA tour, and she was demonstrating such prowess in Riyadh. It was her U.S. opponent who triggered the first exchange of breaks, before Pegula started to pick out her weaknesses to seal a double break.

From there on, the fifth seed did not falter. Pegula’s serving percentage was 12 per cent up on Rybakina, but it was her low rate of nine unforced errors to 25 that made the difference in taking the opening set.

World No. 6 Rybakina left the court to recompose herself at the changeover, looking far more assured in her shotmaking as she managed to break Pegula for 3-1. The Kazakhstani had found her level and was ready to serve for the set, yet errors re-emerged and she was broken at a costly moment.

Pegula had the chance to draw the set back to 5-5 – three game points arose for the American star – but Rybakina was resolute, breaking back with a backhand winner to force a decider at the King Saud University Indoor Arena.

Fine margins would decide the first finalist, and in the sixth and seventh games, the pair exchanged breaks, still with no breakthrough. When Pegula was 40-15 up on her serve, her grip slipped as the fifth seed conceded a double break, leaving Rybakina to close out the match for an outstanding victory on the purple hard courts.

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