By Tony Fairbairn
- Aryna Sabalenka [1] v Coco Gauff [3]
- Qinwen Zheng [7] v Barbora Krejcikova [8]
RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA – Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff are set for a blockbuster semi-final showdown at the WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia.
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Aryna Sabalenka [1] v Coco Gauff [3] | H2H: Tied at 4-4
It’s now official as Aryna Sabalenka will end the year as world number one after advancing to the semi-finals as winner of the purple group. However Sabalenka will want to avoid complacency and will need to bounce back from her defeat to Elena Rybakina if she wants to add the WTA Finals title to her collection of trophies from this season which includes two Grand Slam titles. Standing in Sabalenka’s way of the final is Coco Gauff who defeated the likes of Iga Swiatek and Jessica Pegula to reach the final four at the WTA Finals for the second consecutive year.
H2H & Match Fundamentals
| Aryna Sabalenka [1] v Coco Gauff [3] | H2H: Tied at 4-4 |
| WTA Finals 2024 | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia |
| Indoor Hard | Prize Money: $1,270,000 + Round Robin Prize Money |
| Second on Center Court (16:30 GMT) | Sky/Now TV <- Subscription Required |
It has been a dream season for Sabalenka and that has now been completed by ending the year as the world number one.
Now Sabalenka will look to go one round better than last year as she targets glory at the WTA Finals for the first time in her career.
The next obstacle for Sabalenka is close rival Gauff who finished runner-up in the orange group despite two good wins.
It’s been a fairly underwhelming season for the American but a final in Riyadh would give Gauff a huge confidence boost ahead of a crucial year next season.
Speaking after her final group match, Sabalenka admits she has to fix some things and learn ahead of the semi-finals.
“Well, honestly, this is something I have to learn,” Sabalenka explained to the WTA website.
“How to keep myself motivated and hungry and being 100% on in this kind of matches when you know that you’re already in the semis and the only motivation for you is points and money. But that was tricky.
“And you see someone up on another side, and especially with such a high-level player who has kind of like nothing to lose, and she was just going for her shots and everything was going in.
“I would say that emotionally, the first set, I was kind of off — not kind of — I was really off, and that’s something I have to fix before the semis.”
Meanwhile after her win over Swiatek, Gauff spoke about her game heading in the right direction ahead of her second semi-final appearance at the WTA Finals.
“I’m in the process of changing things, so it’s up and down, and I feel like it’s in the right direction, like you said, the first set, no break point, which, yeah, I don’t even know if that’s ever happened against her particularly,” Gauff stated to the WTA website.
“So, yeah, I think it’s in the right direction. And I was still in the match, even if you know, I wasn’t serving well, which gives me confidence for the next one.”
Sabalenka will aim to dictate on the forehand side and punish any short second serves that come her way.
Meanwhile Gauff will look to create angles and move Sabalenka out of position as a consistent and stable serve will be the key to victory for the third seed.
Both players lost their final round robin match so they will be highly motivated to start well in this match.
Sabalenka has more belief in her game at the moment as well as consistent quality which should be enough to see her into a second consecutive final at the WTA Finals.
Prediction: Sabalenka in three sets.
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Qinwen Zheng [7] v Barbora Krejcikova [8] | H2H: Zheng leads 1-0
It’s been a breakthrough season for Qinwen Zheng and now the Australian Open finalist and Olympic gold medallist is into the final four after a big win over Jasmine Paolini. The seventh seed has played aggressive tennis recently and is looking for her biggest result to date in Riyadh. Standing in Zheng’s way is Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova after the Czech Republican defeated Gauff in her final match to secure a place in the final four.
H2H & Match Fundamentals
| Qinwen Zheng [7] v Barbora Krejcikova [8] | H2H: Zheng leads 1-0 |
| WTA Finals 2024 | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia |
| Indoor Hard | Prize Money: $1,270,000 + Round Robin Prize Money |
| First on Center Court (Not before 15:00 GMT) | Sky/Now TV <- Subscription Required |
Zheng’s season keeps getting better as the Chinese number one is into the semi-finals in Riyadh after some impressive performances.
Another big win will see her into another big final and will give her massive amounts of momentum heading into next season.
Next up for Zheng is Wimbledon champion Krejcikova as the eighth seed is now into the final four in Riyadh despite having a lot of poor form coming into the tournament,
A mixture of experience and variety will look to prove crucial for Krejcikova as she aims to reach the final.
After her final round robin match Zheng praised her consistent serving and knows how capable she is of producing big results.
“I finally feel that my serve begin to be a bit more consistent,” Zheng explained to the WTA website.
“I remember in 2022 my serve also was quite strong. I don’t know why suddenly in 2023 my serve started to drop. In this tournament and the rest of this half year is the first time I’ve felt like the serve start to be back.
“Finally, I showed off some tennis I really want to play. Of course, when you enter to the match you are nervous but at the same time you feel confidence because you know your level. And I know how capable I am.”
Meanwhile Krejcikova admitted she is ‘excited’ to be in the semi-finals in Riyadh as she aims to go all the way.
“Well I was definitely super excited to be here, to come here, to qualify to play against the best ones,” Krejcikova told the WTA website.
“I don’t really know where everything started to come together. Before the tournament, I had a couple of days where we hit lightly and already during those hits, I felt quite good.
“And I think definitely for me, it’s a big thing that it’s the last tournament of the season.”
Zheng will use the backhand to expose space on the court as she looks to dictate play on the baseline.
Meanwhile Krejcikova will use a mixture of variety and power to dominate the tempo of the match while finishing points off at the net.
This will be a tight match but Krejcikova’s high level should have enough for Zheng in this important semi-final clash.
Prediction: Krejcikova in three sets.
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