Rybakina ambushes Sabalenka; Pegula pulls out

Aryna Sabalenka fell victim to a 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 upset at the hands of former Wimbledon winner Elena Rybakina as the world No. 1 moved into the knockout stage of the WTA Finals on Wednesday.

Sabalenka had already assured herself a semi-final place but would have surely preferred to leave the group stage in Riyadh with a clean slate after three matches.

Rybakina ends standing 1-2 as she competed for the first time since pulling injured from the US open with a back injury and playing just three matches since Wimbledon.

Sabalenka’s loss was only her fourth in the series after defeating her Kazakh rival six times; the top seed had won her previous seven matches before running into Rybakina.

American Jessica Pegula quit the year-end event with injury while Australian Open finalist Zheng Qinwen defeated Jasmine Paolini 6-1, 6-1.

US Open runner-up Pegula, who lost that final to Sabalenka, was replaced by alternate Daria Kasatkina.

“Just been kind of struggling with a little bit of an injury,” Pegula said, “and for whatever reason, it kind of really flared up this week. 

“I’m not really sure why. In the few days before practice, it felt really, really good, but it started creeping up right before my first match.

“I”m not feeling comfortable moving on court.”

Kasatkina will face No.2 Iga Swiatek on Thursday.