BOTH Maria Sakkari and Aryna Sabalenka have caused upsets on the opening day of the WTA Finals even in Fort Worth, Texas, knocking off higher ranked opponents. In group Nancy Richey, fifth seed Sakkari took down third seed Jessica Pegula, while seventh seed Sabalenka fought past second seed Ons Jabeur. Though the winners were far more inconsistent than their opponents, they have power on their side, and both ground out victories in tough two-hour plus matches.

Sakkari lead her head-to-head against Pegula coming into the match 3-2, but had lost to her American opponent just over a week ago in Guadalajara, 6-2 6-3. The match overnight was far closer with both sets going to tiebreakers, and the Greek talent needing to win 8-6 and 7-4 in those respective tiebreaks to claim the 7-6 7-6 victory in two hours and 12 minutes.

Both players served three aces, with Sakkari more consistent off her serve, winning 61 and 59 per cent of her first and second serve points from a 66 per cent clip. She broke four times as did Pegula, but the American struggled off her second serve with just a 45 per cent success rate.

“I was very aggressive,” Sakkari said post-match. “If you’re passive, Jess is just going to make you run — she’s going to hit the ball very hard, and it’s over.

“I think it’s always easier for the player that loses the first match than the player that wins. The player that wins has all the pressure. I don’t think it ever crossed her mind that it’s going to be an easy match because she beat me a week ago. I never felt like she underestimated me today.”

In the second match, Sabalenka fought past Jabeur in a remarkable three-set match. The Belarussian has won the last two matches against Jabeur, but the pair had not played each other this year. After the Tunisian second seed went up a set 6-3, Sabalenka had to stay active to grind out a tiebreaker win in the second sets before closing out the match,. 3-6 7-6 7-5 in two hour and 29 minutes.

In a surprise, Jabeur out-served Sabalenka with seven aces to one and five double faults to ix, also claiming 75 per cent of her first serve points. However the Belarusian stood up when it counted, breaking six times to five and taking control off her opponents’ second serve, winning 61 per cent of her points. Making the victory all the more remarkable was the fact that Jabeur was two points away from victory at 5-3 in the second set and almost had a double-break lead in the deciding set, but Sabalenka was able to step up in a big way.

WTA FINALS DAY 1 RESULTS:

[7] Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) defeated [2] Ons Jabeur (TUN) 3-6 7-6 7-5
[5] Maria Sakkari (GRE) defeated [3] Jessica Pegula (USA) 7-6 7-6