![\"Highlights](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/skysports-amanda-anisimova_7070964.jpg\")
<\/p>\nElena Rybakina reached the semi-finals of the WTA Finals with an impressive comeback victory over Iga Swiatek in Riyadh.<\/p>\n
Swiatek had won all four meetings against Rybakina in 2025 and threatened to add a fifth when an early break paved the way to her claiming the first set 6-3.<\/p>\n
But Rybakina roared back in style, dropping just one game for the rest of the match as she clinched the next two sets 6-1 6-0 to record her fifth victory over the world No 2.<\/p>\n
Rybakina’s passage to the last four was later confirmed following Amanda Anisimova’s elimination of Madison Keys, and the Kazakh still has the chance to progress with a clean sheet as she next plays Keys on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Swiatek’s future in the tournament is uncertain, however, with work desperately needed to secure her place in the semi-finals of the end-of-season event in Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n
“It’s always very tough to play against Iga, she brings so much intensity to the court,” Rybakina said on Sky Sports Tennis.<\/p>\n
“She started the match very well, I was a little bit slow, and she broke my serve straight away, so it was difficult being behind.<\/p>\n
“But in the second set I pushed myself, the serve improved, and was really happy to play better with each point.”<\/p>\n
Fourth seed Anisimova bounced back and also recovered from a set down against fellow American Keys to win 4-6 6-3 6-2 in their second round-robin match.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Highlights of Amanda Anisimova against Madison Keys from the WTA Finals<\/p>\n
Anisimova was the first to hold her serve after the match started with four straight breaks, but the 24-year-old conceded another break as Keys took a 5-4 lead.<\/p>\n
World No 7 Keys won the first set with forceful serves and built a 2-0 lead in the second, but her struggles with double faults and unforced errors allowed Anisimova to get a break back and make it 3-3.<\/p>\n
Anisimova broke again, fooling Keys with her well-timed forehand, and won five straight games to take the second set.<\/p>\n
Keys looked exhausted as Anisimova, growing in confidence and finding success with cross-court shots, took just 34 minutes to win the third set.<\/p>\n
“It was quite a battle out there. Just really happy with the way I was able to turn around in the second set and turn that frown upside down,” said Anisimova, who was the runner-up in Wimbledon and the US Open this year.<\/p>\n
Rybakina will face Keys in her last round-robin match, while Swiatek, who beat Keys on Saturday, takes on Anisimova.<\/p>\n
In the other group, top seed Aryna Sabalenka, who beat Jasmine Paolini in her first match, plays Jessica Pegula on Tuesday, live on Sky Sports. Pegula will also be seeking a second successive round-robin win following her victory over Coco Gauff on Sunday.<\/p>\n
![\"Sabalenka](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/skysports-sabalenka-tennis_7069831.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Highlights of Aryna Sabalenka against Jasmine Paolini in the group stage of the WTA Finals<\/p>\n
Fearnley out in first round in Athens<\/p>\n
Britain’s Jacob Fearnley suffered a third successive first-round exit after a straight-sets defeat to Bosnia’s Damir Dzumhur at the Hellenic Championship.<\/p>\n
Fearnley navigated two qualifying rounds to reach the Vienna Open and Paris Masters in October, only to lose his opening matches against Alexander Zverev and Andrey Rublev respectively.<\/p>\n
And the British No 3 fared no better in Athens as he succumbed to a 6-4 6-2 defeat to the world No 58 in 77 minutes.<\/p>\n
Norrie through to next round of Moselle Open<\/p>\n
However, fellow countryman Cameron Norrie saw success as he beat Valentin Royer 6-3 6-7 (2-7) 6-3 in front of the Frenchman’s home crowd to progress to the round of 16.<\/p>\n
The number seven seed looked to be on his way when he took the opening set 6-3, but his French opponent ensured the match went the distance after fighting back to win a second-set tie-break 7-2.<\/p>\n
However, the 30-year-old Briton flexed his muscles once again in the third to wrap up the victory in two hours and seven minutes.<\/p>\n
Norrie will face another Frenchman, Arthur Cazaux, in the next round after his win against compatriot Adrian Mannarino.<\/p>\n
Watch the ATP and WTA Tour Finals, live on Sky Sports or stream with NOW<\/a> and the Sky Sports app<\/a>, giving Sky Sports customers access to over 50 per cent more live sport this year at no extra cost. Find out more here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Elena Rybakina reached the semi-finals of the WTA Finals with an impressive comeback victory over Iga Swiatek in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":241746,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[101,118,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-242577","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-tennis","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242577\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}