One Semi Finalist has been confirmed and another player has already been dumped out of the WTA Finals, although all involved in Group 1 have to complete another match.
Group 2 takes over on Wednesday with the second round robin of matches and the Picks can be read below.
Elina Svitolina v Karolina Muchova: The most one-sided defeat in the opening round robin of matches at the WTA Finals was suffered by Elina Svitolina, but an opportunity to recover remains in front of her.
It makes the Finals a unique tournament compared to the rest on the calendar, even if some players are not enamoured by the format, and Elina Svitolina will feel she can still move through to the Semi Final with two wins.
Both the Ukrainian and Karolina Muchova are looking to bounce back from opening straight sets defeats, and any win will keep them alive in the tournament.
Karolina Muchova had her chances against Aryna Sabalenka and will definitely feel more regret with that in mind, and it should be noted that these two top 7 Ranked players both had limited impact on the Asian swing after the US Open. Both can also feel disappointed with Third Round defeats at the last Grand Slam of the season, while Muchova may feel she has a slight mental edge having beaten Elina Svitolina earlier this season and for the first time on the Tour.
It was a victory earned in a clay court tournament, but the last meeting on the hard courts came in Miami in 2025 and ended in a three set win for Elina Svitolina.
This does feel like a match that may go the distance and the season numbers put together by the pair have been very similar.
However, you have to feel that Elina Svitolina may have a bit more in the tank after falling away in the second set in her opening match and this head to head has been one she has enjoyed. The two will both believe they can serve well enough to put the other under pressure and it is Svitolina who has created the majority of Break Points in the previous two meetings on the Tour.
At the end of the long season, one more big effort is needed by Svitolina and Karolina Muchova and it may be the former who edges through.
Mirra Andreeva v Aryna Sabalenka: Twelve months ago, Aryna Sabalenka would have been entering the WTA Finals as the best player on the Tour, but it has been a difficult 2026 all around.
The reality is that Sabalenka will judge success and failure on the impact at the Grand Slams and coming up short at both the Australian Open and US Open will have hurt. Losing both Finals to the new World Number 1 stung and Aryna Sabalenka had relatively disappointing showings at the French Open and Wimbledon.
Unsurprisingly, rumours suggest big changes are being made in the Coaching department and that may take some time to bed in.
Aryna Sabalenka still had enough to beat Karolina Muchova in the opening match here at the WTA Finals and she did win the title in Indian Wells earlier in the season, which will give her a lot of confidence.
However, the performance in the opening match was far from convincing and young talent Mirra Andreeva looked much stronger when breezing past Elina Svitolina in her opening match.
This is the first time these two are facing one another in 2026, which is a surprise, and the first time since Mirra Andreeva upset Aryna Sabalenka in a hard court Final in March 2025... Which was played right here in Indian Wells.
Prior to that, Sabalenka had won two very comfortable hard court matches against this opponent earlier in that season, but Mirra Andreeva has looked in more convincing form since the end of the US Open and that could show up in this match.
In that short time period, Mirra Andreeva has been serving as well as Aryna Sabalenka, but it is the World Number 3 who has been a lot more convincing on the return of serve. That could make the difference if Sabalenka shows the nerves she did at key times in the win over Karolina Muchova and Mirra Andreeva has been playing at a level that will see her exploit any vulnerabilities a lot better than most.
If this match had been played even a couple of months ago in the hard court run towards the US Open, Aryna Sabalenka would have been a stronger favourite.
However, the form has slumped and Mirra Andreeva may do enough to book her place in the Semi Final of this tournament before the final match in the Group is played later in the week.
MY PICKS: Elina Svitolina @ 2.25 Sky Bet (1 Unit)
Mirra Andreeva @ 1.91 Sky Bet (1 Unit)
WTA Finals: 3-1, + 1.27 Units (4 Units Staked, + 31.75% Yield)
No comments:
Post a Comment