Sabalenka beats Muchova in WTA Finals opener, Digi Mart USA News (Indian Wells, Calif.): Karolina Muchova entered Monday’s match with two records in her favor. At 3-2 against Aryna Sabalenka, she was the only player in the FAGE WTA Finals field with a winning record against her, and she had won every tiebreak she had played this season.
Neither record held up in Monday’s Group 2 opener at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, where Sabalenka won 7-6 (2), 7-5 in 1 hour and 53 minutes.
The lead changed hands repeatedly in the first set. Both players held a break at different points, and Muchova broke to go ahead twice, first at 3-2 and again at 5-4, when a forehand caught the baseline and skidded away from Sabalenka.
Each time, Sabalenka broke right back. Muchova saved two set points on a four-point run to force a tiebreak, but two forehand misses, the last well beyond the baseline on set point, ended her unbeaten run in tiebreaks.
Sabalenka now leads the tour with 13 tiebreak wins this season.
“I was just trying to stay focused on each point, each shot probably, on that tiebreak,” Sabalenka said afterward. “Happy with the level I was able to pull out on that tiebreak and, of course, get the win.
It was very important.”
Three straight breaks in the second set left Sabalenka ahead, and she held that edge until she served for the match at 5-4. A forehand sailed long to give Muchova the break for 5-5, but in the next game Sabalenka ripped an inside-out forehand that Muchova could not reach.
Given a second chance to serve out the match, Sabalenka held.
Sabalenka is now 11-0 at the WTA Finals when she wins the first set. Monday’s win was her 13th at the tournament, tying Mary Pierce for the most by a player who has not won the title.
“I feel like this year, Indian Wells overall because we’re here, has been really good for me,” Sabalenka said. “So I really hope that this is going to help me at the Finals.
I think just trying to take it as a normal tournament. But in the round robin, I’m just trying to win every match I play and at the same time trying to stay in the moment and focus on my game, on each point, and trying to stay calm and in control.
So I guess that’s probably, that’s the secret to consistency.”
Sabalenka has also won five straight WTA Finals openers since losing to Paula Badosa in her 2021 debut. That ties Simona Halep and Caroline Wozniacki for third most since round-robin play returned in 2003, behind Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams with six each.
This is Sabalenka’s sixth consecutive appearance at the Finals, the longest such run since Agnieszka Radwanska played six straight from 2011 to 2016.
Muchova, who qualified in 2023 but withdrew with a wrist injury, made her tournament debut at 30. She is the fourth player in the past 50 years to make her WTA Finals debut at 30 or older, joining Francesca Schiavone, Flavia Pennetta and Ekaterina Alexandrova.
Next up for Sabalenka is Mirra Andreeva, who beat Elina Svitolina later in the day. Sabalenka leads their head-to-head 4-2, but Andreeva won their most recent meeting more than a year ago, in the final at Indian Wells.
Asked whether she was seeking revenge, Sabalenka said laughing, “I mean, for sure, always. But that match was an incredible match.
I’m not sure, but I think she won her first 1000 event at that time, and she played incredible tennis in the final. I remember it was a lot of moving, a lot of running, a lot of great tennis.
And I’m looking forward, and I’ll take that match as a rematch mentality.”
