No player has defended the title for ten consecutive years until this year’s season finale!

The most anticipated event this week is the 2025 WTA Finals competition. Serving as the closing chapter of this year’s regular tour, the finals feature several of the season’s best performers. The women’s singles group stage has now concluded, and here are the detailed semifinal matchups:

Sabalenka vs. Anisimova

Rybakina vs. Pegula

The biggest surprise for fans was last year’s champion Gauff failing to advance from the group stage. She lost her final group match against Sabalenka 6-7, 2-6. Throughout the match, Gauff once held a 5-3 lead in the first set but was overturned in her service game to close out the set. Notably, a critical double fault while leading 4-2 in the tiebreak proved decisive in her defeat.

Another statistic highlights Gauff’s instability on serve: after the year-end finals, her total double faults this year have surpassed 400, marking the worst record since she turned professional.

With Gauff’s elimination confirmed, the defending champion’s early exit means that no player has successfully defended the WTA Finals title for ten straight years. The last time a player defended this championship was in 2014, when American legend Serena Williams achieved this feat.

At the same time, we are pleased to witness the WTA Finals welcoming its tenth new champion in as many editions. The past ten winners are as follows:

2024: Gauff

2023: Świątek

2022: Garcia

2021: Muguruza

2019: Barty

2018: Svitolina

2017: Wozniacki

2016: Cibulková

2015: A. Radwańska

Although Gauff missed out on the semifinals, two American players remain in the women’s singles final four. Anisimova, making her debut at this event, advanced impressively by defeating former champion Świątek in a crucial group match. Her breakthrough into the semifinals on her first appearance is an encouraging performance.

Pegula defeated both Gauff and Paolini in the group stage. Despite losing a tough three-set match in her second group match, she bounced back strongly to beat Paolini 6-2, 6-3 in the final group game, demonstrating highly efficient defensive counterplay.

“Today I finally won in straight sets for the first time in months, and it feels amazing. I think my serving was excellent and consistent overall. In general, when I needed to give my all today, I truly delivered!”

So, looking at this year’s WTA Finals semifinal lineup, which two players do you think will meet in the final?(Source: Tennis Home, Author: Barbie)