WTA Year-End Finals: Sabalenka and Pegula Advance, Semifinalists Set, New Champion Emerges

On November 6 local time, the 2025 Riyadh WTA Year-End Finals held the last day of group matches, finalizing the semifinal lineups for both singles and doubles.

Pegula

In the day’s opening singles group match, fifth seed Pegula dominated, wrapping up a 6-2, 6-3 win in only 63 minutes. Paolini, having experienced physical discomfort this week and previously losing two straight singles matches, was already out of contention for progression.

"This is my first straight-sets win in months," Pegula said after the match. "It always feels great. Today my serve was excellent, my overall game was steady, and I could attack decisively at crucial moments — I could hardly find any flaws." Since beating Tomljanovic in the second round of the China Open at the end of September, this was her first straight-sets victory after eight consecutive three-set wins.

Sabalenka

The second singles group match featured Sabalenka against Gauff, marking their first meeting since the French Open final earlier this year. Although Sabalenka had already won her first two group matches, losing this match could still have cost her a spot in the semifinals. Ultimately, Sabalenka triumphed 7-6(5), 6-2 after 1 hour 28 minutes. Gauff had a chance to serve for the first set and led 4-2 in the tiebreak, but Sabalenka raised her level at key moments to narrowly claim the first set, then secured the win with three breaks in the second set.

With Sabalenka’s straight-sets victory over Gauff, she finished the group stage undefeated and claimed first place in her group, while Pegula took second. The semifinal matchups are set, guaranteeing a new champion for the WTA Year-End Finals for the tenth consecutive year. Sabalenka, first in the Serena Williams group, will face Anisimova, second in the Graf group. Though Sabalenka won their most recent encounter at the US Open final this year, she trails 4-6 in their overall head-to-head record. Pegula, second in the Serena Williams group, will meet Rybakina, first in the Graf group. Although Rybakina won their last meeting at this year’s Billie Jean King Cup, Pegula leads their head-to-head 3-2.

The doubles semifinal pairings have also been decided. Seventh seeds Babos/Stefani overturned a 2-6, 5-7 deficit to defeat third seeds and defending champions Dabrowski/Luetrijf 2-6, 7-5, 10-5, advancing as the second place team from the Huber group. They will face first place Shu Shuwei/Ostapenko from the Navratilova group in the semifinals. Second seeds and last year’s runners-up Siniakova/Townsend beat Andreyeva/Schneider 6-2, 6-4 to top the Huber group and will play the second place Navratilova group team Kudermetova/Mertens in the semis.

Singles Semifinal Matchups

Sabalenka[1] vs Anisimova[4]

Pegula[5] vs Rybakina[6]

Doubles Semifinal Matchups

Siniakova/Townsend[2] vs Kudermetova/Mertens[4]

Shu Shuwei/Ostapenko[6] vs Babos/Stefani[7]

Complete Schedule for November 7

(Text and editing by Wang Fei, images courtesy of Visual China)