By Richard Pagliaro | Friday, November 7, 2025Photo credit: Matthew Stockman/Getty for WTA
Sweat streamed down Aryna Sabalenka’s forehead as she faced flat missiles flying from Amanda Anisimova’s racquet.
Fierce fights don’t frighten the woman wearing the Tiger tattoo on her forearm.
In a spirited stand, a courageous Sabalenka surged through four games in a row fending off Anisimova 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to battle into her second career WTA Finals title match.
“I’m focusing on my game and I’m just trying to pull out everything I have on each point,” Sabalenka told Tennis Channel’s Coco Vandeweghe. “At some point in this match I was just telling myself: Come on Aryna just enjoy this fight. Try to do your best.
“This is the moment you’ve been working for just enjoy it and try to do everything you can on each point.”
Sabalenka digs deep
She defeats Anisimova 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 and books her spot in the final!#WTAFinalsRiyadh pic.twitter.com/EQnfwTNNvF
— wta (@WTA) November 7, 2025
World No. 1 Sabalenka advanced to her 40th career final—and first WTA Finals title match since she lost to Caroline Garcia in the 2022 final staged in Fort Worth.
Sabalenka scored her Tour-best 63rd win of the season, setting up a blockbuster battle of power players against sixth-seeded Elena Rybakina.
Riding a crackling serve and disarming drives, Rybakina rallied past Jessica Pegula 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 making history as the first Kazakh to reach the WTA Finals final in today’s first semifinal.
We will see an 11th different woman in the last 11 years raise the title trophy in Riyadh tomorrow.
It will be a lucrative coronation. Both Sabalenka and Rybakina are undefeated this week so the winner of tomorrow’s final will not only capture a maiden WTA Finals championship—the victor will collect a champion’s check of $5.2 million for taking the title with an undefeated record. Tennis Channel will televise the final live at 11 a.m. Eastern time in the U.S.
“This is the last match of the season, one more opportunity to hold this beautiful trophy,” Sabalenka said. “I’m ready to bring everything I have left in this season for this last match.
“And I’m really hoping for the best.”
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Big-serving finalists typically bring out the best in each other.
The top-seeded Sabalenka is 8-5 lifetime against WTA ace leader Rybakina, but the pair have split their 10 hard-court clashes.
The Sabalenka-Anisimova semifinal was a rematch of the Wimbledon semifinals, which Anisimova won 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. It was also a replay of the US Open final that saw Sabalenka score a 6-3, 7-6(3) triumph becoming the first woman since the legendary Serena Williams (2012-2014) to successfully defend the US Open and collecting a Grand Slam record $5 Million champion’s check for her efforts.
Ultimately, Sabalenka served a bit sharper, covered the court a bit quicker and deployed a little bit more variety to edge Anisimova, who concludes an outstanding season finishing with a career-high ranking of No. 4 and Wimbledon and US Open finals to her credit.
Anisimova charged out to a 4-0 second-set lead dominating that set to force a decider and led 3-2 at deuce on her opponent’s serve when Sabalenka shifted into dynamic world No. 1 mode to take control.
“I think in the second set at some point I was thinking okay I have to change the rhythm, I have to do something to make her think at least,” Sabalenka said of her third-set turnaround. “Because at some point I felt she was just going for her shots. She played incredible tennis.
“Nothing much I could do in that [second] set. I was already once again working for the third set and I think it’s really helped me to understand the game a little bit better and to put that thought in her head. Not everything is going to go that smoothly like in the beginning of the second set.”
In a clash of first-strike tennis, draining duels saw six of the first seven games drive to deuce.
Anisimova denied three break points in the nine-minute opening game to hold and Sabalenka saved five break points across her first two holds.
In the fifth game, Anisimova could not close a 40-15 lead. Sabalenka resorted to slice backhands and forehands earning a fourth break point. When Anisimova netted a forehand, Sabalenka snared the first break and a 3-2 lead after 41 minutes of play.
The top seed slammed successive aces to confirm the break for 4-2.
Superior serving and a bit more variety to disrupt baseline exchanges carried Sabalenka through the first set.
The fourth seed slapped back-to-back double faults then scattered a forehand wide giving Sabalenka triple set point.
On her third set point, Sabalenka snatched the one-hour opening set leaving a frustrated Anisimova to swipe at the court with her Wilson racquet.
Anisimova betrayed her own cause littering 24 unforced errors in the opener—10 more than the top seed—but quickly reset blasting a backhand return breaking to start the second set.
The Wimbledon finalist sped through a love hold to back up the break for 2-0. Anisimova reeled off eight of nine points breezing through the double break to extend her lead to 3-0.
Striking shots with conviction and often taking the ball on the rise, Anisimova held for a 5-1 second-set lead.
Serving for the set at 5-2, Anisimova double faulted and netted a backhand to give back one of the breaks.
Bouncing right back, Anisimova was blasting backhands crosscourt as she broke right back to close the second set and force a third set after one hour, 40-minutes.
NOT OVER YET 😤@AnisimovaAmanda takes the second set 6-3 over Sabalenka. #WTAFinalsRiyadh pic.twitter.com/r4EnbI7vge
— wta (@WTA) November 7, 2025
A trip to the WTA Finals final came down to a one-set shootout.
Shrugging off the sloppy second set, Sabalenka issued a love hold to level the decider after two games then earned a break point in the third game.
Anisimova saved and and rocketed her second ace of the game down the T for a 2-1 lead.
Midway through the decider, Sabalenka seized control in a superb shotmaking storm. Tested to deuce in the sixth game, Sabalenka smacked successive aces—she hit three aces total in that game—to level 3-all.
Though Anisimova won a spectacular 17-shot rally to start the seventh game, her forehand failed her as she ran through a routine forehand down the line whacking it well long to face double break point.
On her second break point, Sabalenka read the second serve and stuck a backhand strike down the line breaking for 4-3 with a resounding scream.
Clanking a double fault, Sabalenka faced a break point in the eighth game but erased it with a whipping wide serve that sparked a hold for 5-3.
A valiant fight from Anisimova ended with successive forehand errors as Sabalenka closed a quality semifinal in two hours, 21-minutes embracing the American in a show of mutual respect at net.
