The WTA Finals continued in Indian Wells with Aryna Sabalenka and Mirra Andreeva both opening their campaigns with victories on Day 2, while the first round of matches concluded without a single upset. Sabalenka overcame Karolina Muchova in a closely contested two-set battle, while Andreeva dominated Elina Svitolina to strengthen her position in Group 2.
Sabalenka took the court at Indian Wells Saturday as the apparent favorite to lift the WTA Finals trophy. This is the world No. 2’s sixth appearance at the event. With top-ranked Elena Rybakina unable to defend the title due to illness, this may be as good a chance as the Belarusian is ever going to get. She is off to a good start with a 7-6(2) 7-5 victory over Karolina Muchova.
In March, Sabalenka won the title in the California desert, and while that does not make her a defending champion, it does give her a little extra confidence. After the win Monday, the 28-year-old told the media: “I feel like this year Indian Wells has been really good for me. So I really hope that this is gonna help me at the Finals.” The mentality is a different one, she added: “I think just trying to take it as a normal tournament, not like a round robin. I’m just trying to win every match I play, and at the same time trying to stay in the moment and focus on my game on each point and trying to stay calm and in control.”
For her part, Muchova is ready to push forward in her debut Finals, adjusting to the unconventional format: “You don’t get an easy match here. This is like the first match, and you play the world No. 2, so you don’t have that time to get in a match or to grow your game, so you right away have to play your best tennis. But I’m happy I got this match now under the belt and I’ll try to bring a better me for the next one.”
In the second singles match of the day, Andreeva defeated Elina Svitolina in a commanding 6-4 6-0 victory.
Speaking in the media mix zone after the match, the Russian took the opportunity to clear the air after the Jessica Pegula hot-mic dustup that has been occupying tennis fans for the past week. She said: “Yeah, I really appreciated that she came up to me on the same day. I think maybe a couple of hours just went by, and she approached me. I would like to keep what she said between her and I, but I really appreciated that she just came up to me. There is no drama or anything behind it, now we’re able to laugh about it.”
The match took a little over an hour, but the teenager still wanted to hit some balls after and asked Conchita Martinez to go back to the practice courts. At first, the Spanish coach thought her young charge was joking. Andreeva told reporters: “She didn’t believe me because usually that doesn’t happen often, but I just wanted to clean my shots. I wanted to serve a little. I just wanted to feel a bit more free on the court, and that was just the purpose behind it.”
Following the defeat, Svitolina will prepare for the next match on and off the court, taking time to clear her mind in part by taking advantage of the natural beauty. The Ukrainian told the media: “Here we went to hike a little bit, walked around the very nice hiking places. I think staying off social media. I think social media’s been quite toxic for the past few weeks, months, and you don’t want to have that, especially for me. I think you just want to stay off of it a little bit, especially when it’s a very difficult moment and the last tournament. I just want to put my head down and give my last push here.”
Advancement Scenarios
At the conclusion of the first round, which did not feature a single upset so far, the WTA published the following advancement scenarios going into the second round:
SINGLES GROUP 1 (Tuesday)
Noskova advances if she wins in straight sets (Position in group tbd)
If Noskova and Kostyuk win, Noskova advances as group winner and Pegula is eliminated. (Kostyuk and Gauff would play for second spot Thursday)
If Gauff and Pegula win, Gauff advances as group winner and Kostyuk is eliminated. (Noskova and Pegula would play for second spot Thursday)
Kostyuk is eliminated with a straight sets loss
Any other combination of results will mean qualification comes down to the final matches.
SINGLES GROUP 2 (Wednesday)
If Sabalenka and Muchova win, Sabalenka advances as group winner, Svitolina is eliminated (Muchova and Andreeva would play for the No. 2 spot on Friday)
If Sabalenka wins in straight sets and Svitolina wins in three sets, Sabalenka advances (position tbd)
If Andreeva and Svitolina win, Andreeva advances as group winner, Muchova is eliminated (Svitolina and Sabalenka will play for the No.2 spot on Friday)
If Andreeva wins in straight sets and Muchova wins in three sets, Andreeva advances (position tbd)
Any other combination of results will mean advancement comes down to final matches.
