Jasmine Paolini claimed victory on her WTA Finals debut after she defeated Elena Rybakina 7-6(5) 6-4 in Riyadh.
The Roland Garros and Wimbledon finalist kicked off her purple group campaign with a straight sets win over the Kazakh.
It was a good start from the Italian who played some ruthless tennis to convert her first break point of the match for a 4-2 lead.
Prior to that moment Rybakina had a break point of her own and the world number five maintained her pressure on return, immediately breaking back.
There was no sign of letting up from Rybakina who let loose on the forehand side and had two more opportunities to break the Paolini serve.
However having not played a match since the US Open, Rybakina’s inefficiency would cost her as Paolini forced an opening set tiebreak.
Paolini didn’t lack any efficiency as she stormed into a 4-1 lead in the tiebreak and eventually converted her fourth set point to take a 65 minute set.
Both players had opportunities to break early on in the set but once again Rybakina was too passive and tight when it mattered most.
A dominant seventh game would be the difference between winning and losing as Paolini broke in the seventh game and never looked back to claim victory on day one in Saudi Arabia.
After the match Paolini admitted it was a tough match against the returning Rybakina, “It’s amazing, I’m really happy with the win today,” Paolini was quoted by the tennis.com website as saying.
“All tough matches here, and Elena, she’s playing unbelievable. It’s good to see her back on tour. It’s always tough to play her, big serve, big forehand, everything is big—I mean, she’s hitting the ball so strong, so I’m happy how I managed to play this match. And it wasn’t easy, because it’s my first time here at the WTA Finals. I’m very happy with the win.”
Paolini now has the big task of facing world number one Aryna Sabalenka on Monday while Rybakina takes on Qinwen Zheng.
