Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) - The Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka beat the Czech Karolina Muchova in two sets this Monday and began her participation in the WTA Finals on the right foot, the tournament that brings together the eight best tennis players of the season in Indian Wells.

First modification: 11/09/2026 - 23:45

The former world number one had to give everything before finally winning 7-6 (7/2) and 7-5 in just under two hours of play on the hard court in California.

Sabalenka, the second seed, is seeking her first title in the competition after suffering defeats in the 2022 and 2025 finals.

It seems to have an advantage towards that goal due to the absence due to a virus of the owner of the first step of the world ranking, the Kazakh Elena Rybakina.

The four-time Grand Slam champion appeared to be in trouble after conceding a break and falling 5-4 behind in the first set.

But he overcame the break immediately to make it 5-5 and subsequently kept his cool in the tie-break (7-2).

Both players struggled on serve in the second set, when Sabalenka suffered her fourth break on serve to win the match with a 5-4 lead.

However, the Belarusian responded to that setback by recovering the break immediately to take a 6-5 lead. She made no mistake as she served again to pocket the game, after the Czech sent a backhand into the net.

The Group 2 duel between Sabalenka and Muchova was the first of the two matches this Monday, on the second day of the competition.

Later, the third seed, Russian Mirra Andreeva, faces Ukrainian Elina Svitolina.

This year's WTA Finals were due to be held in Saudi Arabia, but were moved to Indian Wells following the US military attacks on Iran in February and the subsequent war in the region.

© 2026 AFP

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