{"id":249523,"date":"2025-11-07T15:25:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T15:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/249523\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T15:25:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T15:25:09","slug":"wta-finals-tennis-jessica-pegula-v-elena-rybakina-in-semi-finals-live-wta-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/249523\/","title":{"rendered":"WTA Finals tennis: Jessica Pegula v Elena Rybakina in semi-finals \u2013 live | WTA Finals"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Key events<\/p>\n<p>Show key events only<\/p>\n<p>Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">First set: Pegula *2-1 Rybakina (*denotes next server) Rybakina mishits a volley at the net on her way to 0-30 down, but keeps herself in the game with a lovely volley from down by her feet. Pegula hooks a return on to the line, though, and earns two break points. She takes the first as Rybakina balloons a forehand long.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"mailto:?subject=WTA Finals tennis: Jessica Pegula v Elena Rybakina in semi-finals \u2013 live&amp;body=https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/sport\/live\/2025\/nov\/07\/wta-finals-tennis-rybakina-pegula-sabalenka-anisimova-live?CMP=share_btn_url&amp;page=with%3Ablock-690e0e8e8f08c6fafc460bd5#block-690e0e8e8f08c6fafc460bd5\" type=\"button\" class=\"dcr-1mulgdf\">Share<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">First set: Pegula 1-1* Rybakina (*denotes next server) Rybakina has only dropped her serve twice this week, which is a sign of the form she\u2019s in. She delivers two fizzing cross-court forehand winners in this game, but Pegula scraps her way through.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"mailto:?subject=WTA Finals tennis: Jessica Pegula v Elena Rybakina in semi-finals \u2013 live&amp;body=https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/sport\/live\/2025\/nov\/07\/wta-finals-tennis-rybakina-pegula-sabalenka-anisimova-live?CMP=share_btn_url&amp;page=with%3Ablock-690e0d698f087353b0fc519a#block-690e0d698f087353b0fc519a\" type=\"button\" class=\"dcr-1mulgdf\">Share<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">First set: Pegula *0-1 Rybakina (*denotes next server) A very solid opening service game from Rybakina, firing down three aces to hold.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"mailto:?subject=WTA Finals tennis: Jessica Pegula v Elena Rybakina in semi-finals \u2013 live&amp;body=https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/sport\/live\/2025\/nov\/07\/wta-finals-tennis-rybakina-pegula-sabalenka-anisimova-live?CMP=share_btn_url&amp;page=with%3Ablock-690e0d208f082a7322258e74#block-690e0d208f082a7322258e74\" type=\"button\" class=\"dcr-1mulgdf\">Share<\/a>Pegula v Rybakina is go<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Both players are out on court warming up, and the match is just a few moments away.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"mailto:?subject=WTA Finals tennis: Jessica Pegula v Elena Rybakina in semi-finals \u2013 live&amp;body=https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/sport\/live\/2025\/nov\/07\/wta-finals-tennis-rybakina-pegula-sabalenka-anisimova-live?CMP=share_btn_url&amp;page=with%3Ablock-690e0b458f08c6fafc460b7a#block-690e0b458f08c6fafc460b7a\" type=\"button\" class=\"dcr-1mulgdf\">Share<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The ATP Finals start on Sunday in Turin \u2013 the groups were set yesterday, but one place is still up for grabs. Felix Auger-Aliassime is currently the eighth seed, but if Lorenzo Musetti can win the title in Athens, the Italian will take his spot. Musetti plays Sebastian Korda in the Athens semi-finals later today.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Jimmy Connors Group<br \/>Carlos Alcaraz<br \/>Novak Djokovic<br \/>Taylor Fritz<br \/>Alex de Minaur<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Bjorn Borg Group<br \/>Jannik Sinner<br \/>Alexander Zverev<br \/>Ben Shelton<br \/>Lorenzo Musetti or Felix Auger-Aliassime<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"mailto:?subject=WTA Finals tennis: Jessica Pegula v Elena Rybakina in semi-finals \u2013 live&amp;body=https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/sport\/live\/2025\/nov\/07\/wta-finals-tennis-rybakina-pegula-sabalenka-anisimova-live?CMP=share_btn_url&amp;page=with%3Ablock-690e04c48f081f97021454d1#block-690e04c48f081f97021454d1\" type=\"button\" class=\"dcr-1mulgdf\">Share<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">That means our first semi-final match should get under way on time at 3pm (GMT). In the mean time, have you signed up for our weekly newsletters? No? It only takes a click.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"mailto:?subject=WTA Finals tennis: Jessica Pegula v Elena Rybakina in semi-finals \u2013 live&amp;body=https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/sport\/live\/2025\/nov\/07\/wta-finals-tennis-rybakina-pegula-sabalenka-anisimova-live?CMP=share_btn_url&amp;page=with%3Ablock-690e01fb8f08236086ba5c1a#block-690e01fb8f08236086ba5c1a\" type=\"button\" class=\"dcr-1mulgdf\">Share<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The first doubles semi-final has just finished, with Timea Babos and Luisa Stefani defeating Hsieh Su-wei and Jelena Ostapenko 6-4, 6-6 (7-5).<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Babos and Stefani, the No 7 seeds, will face the winners of Friday\u2019s later second semi-final: Katerina Siniakova &amp; Taylor Townsend v Elise Mertens &amp; Veronika Kudermetova.<\/p>\n<p>Hungary&#8217;s Timea Babos and Brazil&#8217;s Luisa Stefani during their semi-final victory. Photograph: St\u00e9phanie Lecocq\/Reuters<a href=\"mailto:?subject=WTA Finals tennis: Jessica Pegula v Elena Rybakina in semi-finals \u2013 live&amp;body=https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/sport\/live\/2025\/nov\/07\/wta-finals-tennis-rybakina-pegula-sabalenka-anisimova-live?CMP=share_btn_url&amp;page=with%3Ablock-690e00658f08236086ba5c06#block-690e00658f08236086ba5c06\" type=\"button\" class=\"dcr-1mulgdf\">Share<\/a>Preamble<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">There will be a new name on the WTA Finals trophy this year: none of the four players still standing have won this title before. The favourite, world No 1 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/sport\/aryna-sabalenka\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Aryna Sabalenka<\/a>, lost her only final appearance, to Caroline Garcia in 2022. She faces Amanda Anisimova in the second semi-final, which promises to be a power-hitting masterclass.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Before that, surprise front-runner Elena Rybakina takes on Jessica Pegula for a place in the final. Having dipped out of the world\u2019s top 10 in the summer, Rybakina rediscovered her form in the year\u2019s Asian swing and has defied a poor prior record in this event, winning all three round-robin games to qualify for her first semi-final spot.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">As for Pegula, she reached the final in 2023, only to lose 6-1, 6-0 to Iga Swiatek. Despite losing a tight contest against Sabalenka, she made it through to the last four by beating Coco Gauff and Jasmine Paolini. The American starts as underdog today but has a 3-1 advantage in the two players\u2019 head-to-head record.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"mailto:?subject=WTA Finals tennis: Jessica Pegula v Elena Rybakina in semi-finals \u2013 live&amp;body=https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/sport\/live\/2025\/nov\/07\/wta-finals-tennis-rybakina-pegula-sabalenka-anisimova-live?CMP=share_btn_url&amp;page=with%3Ablock-690c9a168f087d41c6d80a2f#block-690c9a168f087d41c6d80a2f\" type=\"button\" class=\"dcr-1mulgdf\">Share<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Key events Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature First set: Pegula *2-1&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249524,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[101,118,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-249523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249523","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=249523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}