By Richard Pagliaro | Friday, November 7, 2025
Photo: Matthew Stockman/Getty for WTA
A powerful preliminary exchange escalated when Elena Rybakina tore a cross-brow at such a shocking pace that it knocked Jessica Pegula on her knees and the Yonex racket from her hands.
Riding a cracking serve and disarming drives, Rybakina rallied past Pegula 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 to make history as the first Kazakh to reach the final of the WTA Finale in Riyadh today.
“Some rallies were really crazy and I won some of them too,” Rybakina said Tennis Channel’s Coco Vandow in her court interview. “A lot of nerves. It was very close. It’s not easy, but I’m glad I managed to stay focused and yes, I managed to win.”
The last woman to qualify for the final tournament of the season is now one win away from her biggest title since beating Ons Jabeur to win the 2022 Wimbledon Championships.
The sixth winner, Rybakina, will play in one of the two places No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka or fourth Amanda Anisimova in tomorrow’s final and if she wins, she will collect the $5.2 million champion’s check for capping off an undefeated week in Riyadh. Rybakina has played some of her most dynamic tennis of the year this week despite playing with kinesiology tape wrapped around her right shoulder after the stress and strain of a frantic finish to the season that helped her past Mirra Andreeva and qualify for the tournament.
“I hope I can recover for tomorrow, of course it was a lot of games,” said Rybakina. “I’ve had to adjust a bit. At the moment, I’m pushing myself. I know there’s one last game left so I’ll try to do everything possible to recover.
“Hopefully (the shoulder) won’t be any worse tomorrow… It’s not easy at all to lose in the final even though you made it. There are so many tough opponents here whoever wins this match, I think it’s going to be a really, really tough battle. I’m just going to try my best, give it my all and we’ll see what happens.”
Facing one of the most accurate returns in the sport today, Rybakina hit 15 aces—she has hit a WTA-best 503 aces on the season—and won four of the last five games to close out in two hours and five minutes.
Ultimately, Rybakina, who dished out more than 60 unforced errors, was willing to keep shooting for corners even under the stress of the third set. Rybakina achieved 36 winners, which was 27 more than Pegula.
However, the American will likely be disappointed that she was broken in the second set at 4-5 and had three game points to level that set at 5-all but could not come back.
In the opening set, Pegula had success targeting Rybakina’s forehand, which she tends to predictably cross.
In the decisive exchanges in the final set, Rybakina stayed toe-to-toe with the 2024 US Open finalist and won several key forehand exchanges to level her head-to-head series with Pegula at 3-3.
The pair traded breaks in the third and fourth games.
Driving her returns deep through midcourt right into Rybakina’s hip, Pegula drew the error for her second break point in the fifth game.
When Rybakina netted a backhand, Pegula earned her second break in a row and a 3-2 lead with a forehand!
The fifth-seeded Pegula never held back and kept her depth in a tense 10-point game, holding on to support the break for 4-2.
At the net, Rybakina scored eight of 10 service points to close the gap at 4-5.
The 2023 finalist had spent much of the first set testing Rybakina’s return on the second side.
Tennis at the highest level! 👏@JPegula takes the first set 6-4 against Rybakina. #WTAFinalsRiyadh pic.twitter.com/HS08ovkRVh
— wta (@WTA) November 7, 2025
Serving at 5-4, 30-all, Pegula abruptly reversed that pattern by pumping an ace up the middle for set point.
On the eighth shot of the ensuing rally, Rybakina scored a lead as Pegula grabbed a one-set lead after 41 minutes. Rybakina made 15 unforced errors in the opening set – 11 more than Pegula.
After a short bathroom break, Rybakina returned refreshed. She won three break points in Pegula’s first two service games in the second set.
Leaning into her drive, Rybakina pulled a net back to break a 3-1 lead.
Kazakhstan, the first to reach the semi-finals of the WTA Finals, battled back with a narrow 4-1 scoreline.
WTA ace leader Rybakina served for the second set at 5-3 and hit her 10th ace out of bounds. Rybakina was two set points up at 30-love, but then double faulted a backhand as Pegula broke back for 4-5.
Despite that missed opportunity, Rybakina showed no sign of disappointment and went right back to work. Pegula held match point three different times in the 10th game, but Rybakina hit a 90 mph return right after the American rattled off the error to level the match. When Pegula’s forehand sailed, Rybakina won a second set point.
Entering the court, the Kazakh hit a backhand crosshand winner on the break to grab the second set and force a decider after 90 minutes.
Rybakina opened the third set by hitting her 500th ace of the season. Two games later, she hit some stinging serves to erase a pair of break points that held a 2-1 lead in the decider.
A high-quality match took another plot twist as Pegula hit a forward pass down the line that helped him win triple points. Pegula leveled an errant attack by breaking 3-4.
Competing in her fourth straight WTA finals, Pegula went up 40-15 and held match points at 4-all.
Rybakina refused to give up and beat Pegula in crucial crosscourt exchanges, including that heavy backhand that brought the American to her knees as the former Wimbledon winner broke for 5-3.
With the finish line in sight, Rybakina raced through it to land her 15th ace and a body serve for double match point. A cracking last serve ended Rybakina’s first trip to a WTA Finals title match in two hours and five minutes.
