Sabalenka Puts Out Gauff's Dream At WTA Finals 2025

Aryna Sabalenka advanced to the semifinals of the 2025 WTA Finals after defeating Coco Gauff (Instagram/@arynasabalenka).

JAKARTA - Aryna Sabalenka beat Coco Gauff to avenge her defeat in the French Open 2025 final while securing her place in the last four of the 2025 WTA Finals with Jessica Pegula.

Sabalenka, Gauff, and Pegula enter the match on Thursday, November 6, 2025, evening local time, in Riyadh knowing that only two of them will qualify from the Stefanie Group of Graphs.

Pegula won 6-2 and 6-3 over Jasmine Paolini who has been confirmed eliminated, which means a straight two-set victory for defending champion Gauff will get rid of world number one Sabalenka.

However, the opposite happened, Sabalenka managed to win. This victory made Sabalenka finish the group stage with a perfect record, three wins from three matches.

"We've always had a great fight. It's nice to have a fight against him because I know it's going to be a great fight," Sabalenka said.

This defeat made Gauff's efforts to defend the title automatically went out. Meanwhile, Pegula won the group runner-up position after defeating Jasmine Paolini.

With this result, Sabalenka will face the fourth seed from the United States, Amanda Anisimova, in the semifinal match which will be the final repeat of the US Open 2025.

Meanwhile, Pegula will face sixth seed from Kazakhstan, Elena Rybakina.

At the 12th meeting with Gauff, Sabalenka was left behind by a break in the first set before forcing a tie-breaking and closing the opening set in 55 minutes.

In the second set, the winner of the four Grand Slam titles immediately won 4-0. Even though Gauff had time to reduce the gap, Sabalenka was able to regain control of the game to ensure victory.

Meanwhile, Pegula said he was satisfied to be able to avenge the defeat to Paolini at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in Shenzhen last week.

"I'm very happy and excited to qualify for the semifinals. I know I have to win today, especially two straight sets, so that's my main motivation. I'm happy to be playing so well," said Pegula.

Pegula, who appeared in the WTA Finals for the fourth time in a row, assessed that this year's competition was much tighter than the previous editions.

"I feel this year is very competitive. All the players in this group have performed amazingly throughout the season. Our level of play is very high, maybe more difficult than in previous years," he said.