THERE was nowhere to hide for Italian Jasmine Paolini as Chinese world number seven Qinwen Zheng delivered a fatal blow to the fourth seed in Riyadh to reach the WTA Finals knockout stage. In what was a virtual elimination final to determine the second semi-finalist for the Orange Group, Zheng made light work of her opponent, needing just 68 minutes to destroy the first-time WTA finalist, 6-1 6-1.

Paolini started her tournament off brightly with a win over Elena Rybakina, an achievement Zheng had also ticked off last group match. However with both losing to world number one Aryna Sabalenka it guaranteed the day five clash between the two would determine who went through as the group’s runner-up.

In all three of the pair’s previous meetings, Zheng had got the better of Paolini, with the meeting split between their respective home nations of China and Italy. Too powerful for the composed and much improved 28-year-old, Zheng served 12 aces and won 77 per cent of her first serve points to essentially hit the Italian off the court.

Paolini could not find any rhythm on serve, winning 14 of 28 points off her first (50 per cent), and just eight of 21 (38 per cent) off her second. In a huge accomplishment for Zheng, her 12 aces came without any double faults, and therefore the seventh seed was able to control the game and save both break points she faced. Zheng also converted five of eight break point chances off Paolini’s serve.

The Chinese talent admitted her greatest weapon was returning to its red-hot form of a couple of years ago.

“I finally feel that my serve begin to be a bit more consistent,” Zheng said post-match. “I remember in 2022 my serve also was quite strong. I don’t know why suddenly in 2023 my serve started to drop. In this tournament and the rest of this half year is the first time I’ve felt like the serve start to be back.”

Paolini admitted she had few answers, with a combination of nerves and Zheng’s serve adding to the result.

“She started to serve better and better and it’s tough to read her serve,” Paolini said. “I think it’s not easy.

“Now it’s tough to forget this match because I was so nervous. Couldn’t find a solution to play against her. It was a tough day. But there are some positive matches as well. But today it’s a very negative one.”

Rybakina finishes on a high with Sabalenka defeat

ON paper there was nothing on the line for either Elena Rybakina or Aryna Sabalenka in the last Orange Group match on Wednesday, with the former finishing her WTA Finals campaign off on a high. The Kazakh fifth seed won 6-4 3-6 6-1 in an hour and 42 minutes to ensure she moved to 1-2 for the campaign, while Sabalenka essentially got in an extra hit before the knockout semi-finals.

Coming into the contest, Sabalenka had defeated both Zheng and Paolini, while Rybakina had lost to the pair, but the 2022 Wimbledon champion – who had missed a lot of tennis lately – was determined to end the year on a high.

“I think today I served really well, and especially in the third set,” Rybakina said post-match. “So I’m pretty happy that this was improvement, and I think maybe movement a little bit better.

“But of course, overall, I know that I’m not at my best, and if I would have maybe more weeks and some other matches, but with all the circumstances, I’m really happy overall how I played this this tournament.”

Rybakina served six aces to four and won 83 per cent of her first serve points to be proactive off her own service games. She converted five breaks to three and won 44 per cent of her return points to Sabalenka’s 31 per cent in a commanding performance.

The Belarusian world number one admitted trying to remain motivated knowing the match was a dead rubber was an improvement she had to make in her game.

“Well, honestly, this is something I have to learn,” Sabalenka said. “How to keep myself motivated and hungry and being 100% on in this kind of matches when you know that you’re already in the semis and the only motivation for you is points and money. But that was tricky. 

“And you see someone up on another side, and especially with such a high-level player who has kind of like nothing to lose, and she was just going for her shots and everything was going in. I would say that emotionally, the first set, I was kind of off – not kind of – I was really off, and that’s something I have to fix before the semis.”