Aryna Sabalenka opens up with hard fought win over Karolina Muchova to take early impetus at WTA Finals
WTA
Aryna Sabalenka has opened up her group stage in style at the 2026 WTA Finals at Indian Wells, seeing off Karolina Muchova on Sunday night in a hard-fought win in straight sets on Monday evening.
Sabalenka opened the tie with a tie-break win in the opening set in one that swung from one way to another. Muchova went 3-2 up with an early break, but she was broken immediately back for 3-3.
Sabalenka and Muchova embroiled in superb tie
Sabalenka held from there for 4-3, but just when it looked like she was gaining a clean amount of impetus Muchova made it 4-4 and then broke to go 5-4 up. She served for the set but was broken for it.
Sabalenka won it 40-15 and then held for 6-5, and it was sent to a tie-break from there, which Sabalenka roundly swept to seal a 7-2 opening stanza through the means of a tie-break, which Muchova had little chance to secure.
Sabalenka broke to begin set two, going 2-1 up, but Muchova broke straight back, only for the former to do it again to go 3-2 up. She finally held, and this proved to be the nail in the coffin when it came to Muchova's chances of getting back into the match.
Sabalenka held for 4-2 and then 4-3 for Muchova to level before the former then went one away at 5-3 up. Albeit there was adversity still to come, Sabalenka was broken when serving for the match at 5-5 only for Muchova to not be able to actually hold serve when it mattered to go towards the second set. Sabalenka broke at 40-30 up and then sealed a break.
She was 6-5 up and then serving for the win, which she managed to clinch on the second match point. A superbly entertaining affair to open the night with Svitolina v Andreeva to come shortly. But Sabalenka is firmly underway in Group B at the WTA Finals and leads after the opening group match of the evening.
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While Muchova put in a good showing, she was denied in the end. She will face the loser of the next tie to hope to keep her campaign alive. But Sabalenka has the first points.
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Samuel Gill is the Chief Content Officer (CCO) of TennisUpToDate.com, a role he has held since 2020. He is responsible for editorial governance across the platform, including setting content standards, overseeing accuracy and consistency, and guiding long-term editorial strategy. Since joining, he has contributed more than 10,000 articles and editorial pieces across the TennisUpToDate network, playing a central role in the daily operation and development of the site.
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