WTA Finals: Aryna Sabalenka brushes past Jasmine Paolini to make it five in a row

Aryna Sabalenka has opened up her account at the 2025 WTA Finals in the so-called Stefanie Graf Group which also features Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff who are currently facing off as she saw off Jasmine Paolini with a great deal of ease.

It's now five wins in a row for the World No.1 against Paolini who was crowned the Year End leader without any sort of resistance earlier on this week in Riyadh and looked every inch the top player as she made light work of the Italian.

Paolini perhaps would've fancied her chances going in as she was one of two in-form players going into the event alongside Elena Rybakina. Both qualified late on after late pushes to displace those ahead. Albeit Paolini was more just holding onto position more than anything else compared to Rybakina. But still Sabalenka hasn't played since Wuhan and like many others could be rusty.

But she didn't look so as she won 6-3, 6-1 in just over an hour. Her first serve percentage sat at 81% with 66% of points on that first serve won compared to 50% from Paolini. Her sheer brilliance was also on display on the serve as she hit 11 aces and no double faults. She also converted 5/7 on her break points in sheer domination.

It is her 12th top 10 win of 2025 and she has shown that she is still very much the woman to beat as she awaits the victor of the next tie to attempt to sew up her spot in the latter stages. It is also a 60th win of 2025 and a 52nd top 10 win. Lights out all season.

"She's a tough opponent. We played a lot and every time it's a tough battle," she said on court. "It doesn't matter what the score is."

"I know that I always have to stay focused. If you give her an opportunity, she's going to step in and take control of the game. I think I'm mostly happy with my focus today. I didn’t drop my serve—well, yes, I did drop my serve—but still, I was focused. I was calm, and it felt like everything was under control."

She also admitted that it is very much all in and she doesn't care really about it being round robin. "I don’t focus on the round-robin part. I take this tournament like any regular tournament where I have to win five matches if I want to win the title. So, I just go into every match like it’s the last one, and I try to bring my best tennis and fight for every point."

While reflecting on ending the year as World No.1, she took great pride in it. “That feels super special. I’m super happy and proud of the work that’s been done and that I’m getting better and better every day. I hope we’re gonna keep doing what we’re doing. Hopefully we can stay there.”