Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus returns a ball during the round robin match against Coco Gauff of the United States at WTA Finals tennis tournament in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Nov. 6, 2025. (Xinhua/Luo Chen)
RIYADH, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- Top seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus beat defending champion Coco Gauff of the United States 7-6 (5), 6-2 on Thursday to complete a clean sweep in the Steffi Graf group at the 2025 WTA Finals and advance to the semifinals as group winner.
Gauff had held a 6-5 edge in their head-to-head and won their most recent meeting in this year's French Open final in three sets, but Sabalenka overturned the trend with a strong finish to the opening set and a dominant second.
The first set swung back and forth. Gauff broke serve in the opening game, Sabalenka broke back in the fourth, and Gauff regained the lead. Trailing 4-5, Sabalenka broke to level and forced a tiebreak.
In the tiebreak, Sabalenka won four straight points from 2-4 and converted her second set point.
Gauff's level dipped in the second set as her errors rose, while Sabalenka surged to a 4-0 lead and closed out the match 6-2 for her third consecutive group win, leveling their head-to-head at 6-6.
Reflecting on the first set, Sabalenka said, "I was already working for the second set, to be honest. Something clicked and I was able to break and that game gave me a lot of confidence that I still got it in this set. And yeah, super happy to get this winning straight sets."
In the group's other match on Thursday, fifth seed Jessica Pegula of the United States beat Italy's Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 6-3 to secure the second semifinal spot.
In Friday's semifinals, Pegula will face Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina, the Serena Williams group winner, while Sabalenka will play American Amanda Anisimova. ■
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