​Aryna Sabalenko made a great debut at the 2023 Tournament of Champions, but the leader of the WTA ranking clearly lost the second match in Cancun: 4-6, 3-6 against Jessica Pegula. The American is the first player to reach the semifinals of the competition.

Jessica Pegula, in the semifinals of the Tournament of Champions – defeated Aryna Sabalenko

Mexico’s No. 5 seed Pegula prevailed 6-4, 6-3 after an hour and 28 minutes of play.

Jessica served better than her opponent (5-1 in aces and 2-5 in double faults) and committed far fewer unforced errors (12-29).

The athlete from the USA lost all the matches she played in the groups of the WTA Finals last year, but now she has won the first two games and has already qualified for the penultimate act.

In another match in the Bacalar group, Olena Rybakina beat Maria Sakkari 6-0, (4)6-7, 7-6(2).

Bachelor’s group, rating

1. Jessica Pegula (favourite 5) 2-0 (W/W) / 4-0 (Sets) / 25-14 (Games)

1. Aryna Sabalenko (1) 1-1 / 2-2 / 19-13

3. Olena Rybakina (4) 1-1 / 2-3 / 26-26

4. Maria Sakkari (8) 0-2 / 1-4 / 14-31.

The last matches in the Bakalar group will be Aryna Sabalenko – Olena Rybakina and Jessica Pegula – Maria Sakkari.

The result of the match between Aryna Sabalenko and Jessica Pegula

The 2023 Tournament of Champions takes place from October 29 to November 5 on hard court in Cancun, Mexico. Its total prize pool is $9,000,000, starting with the top eight players of the season, and the reigning champion is Caroline Garcia (she did not qualify for this year’s edition).