Aryna Sabalenka, victorious in two sets over Coco Gauff in the remake of the last Roland-Garros final won by the young American and title holder, and Jessica Pegula, who had corrected Jasmine Paolini a little earlier, both validated this Thursday in Riyadh in the Steffi Graf group their ticket for the semi-finals of the WTA Masters. The Belarusian finished 1st in the group, one point ahead of Pegula. Gauff, title holder, takes the door.
The posters for the WTA Masters semi-finals are known. And Coco Gauff, title holder, will not be there. The day after the qualification of Elena Rybakina and Amanda Anisimova, respectively 1st and 2nd in the Serena Williams group, Aryna Sabalenka and Jessica Pegula also validated their ticket for the semi-finals.
Like the Kazakh ranked 6th in the world in the other group, Sabalenka continued her success by offering herself a third success in as many matches played so far in the competition by dominating in two sets (7-6, 6-2) a Coco Gauff who had blocked her path to the final of this same Masters last year before then adding her name to the list of honors.
If the young American and world number 3 had in mind to retain her title and achieve the double in Saudi Arabia, it was a failure. Already beaten by Pegula when she entered the fray last Sunday, Gauff suffered the second setback too many, this Thursday against the world number 1 in the remake of the last Roland-Garros final, which then turned to the advantage of the younger of the two players.
Sabalenka against Anisimova, Pegula against Ryakina
The reunion, however, this time gave rise to a victory for the Belarusian, who at the same time took her revenge for Paris and once again came back on par with her rival (6-6) in all the confrontations. An outcome which seemed far from obvious when Gauff, after breaking Sabalenka from the start, led 2-0 then 4-2 and 5-3 in the first set before the world number 1 came back to the level, after her opponent lost her serve for the second time in a row.
The deciding game that followed was also very close, with the Belarusian coming back from 2-4 down to finally win 7-5. There was no real match after that, however. Sabalenka, released, swept Gauff in the second set. She will face Anisimova for a place in the final. Pegula, who had left no chance to Jasmine Paolini (6-2, 6-3) a little earlier and finished 2nd in this group Steffi Graf one point behind world number 1, will be opposed to Rybakina who is also still undefeated.
