Svitolina beats Sabalenka to complete WTA Finals semi-final line-up

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Elina Svitolina secured the last available WTA Finals semi-final place on Friday, 13 November, defeating Aryna Sabalenka 6–3, 3–6, 6–1. The Ukrainian finished second in Group 2 and will face Linda Noskova in Saturday’s last four.

Svitolina recovered from losing her opening service game to take the first set. A crucial hold at 3–3, when she saved two break points, helped turn the opening exchanges in her favour before Sabalenka fought back to force a deciding set.

The final set was more decisive. Svitolina broke early, extended her advantage to 5–1 and served out the match. Across the contest she converted six of eight break-point opportunities, making the most of the chances Sabalenka allowed her.

It was Svitolina’s first victory over Sabalenka since Strasbourg in 2020 and her first against her on a hard court. Sabalenka had won their five previous meetings, including all three of their earlier hard-court encounters.

The result also completed a recovery within the tournament. Svitolina had opened her campaign with a straight-sets defeat by Mirra Andreeva before beating Karolina Muchova and Sabalenka to finish with two wins from three matches.

The 2018 champion is appearing at the season-ending tournament for the first time since 2019. Her next opponent, Noskova, qualified as the winner of Group 1.

Andreeva had already secured top spot in Group 2 and finished the round-robin phase with a 6–2, 6–1 victory over Diana Shnaider. She won all three group matches without dropping a set and will meet Jessica Pegula in the other semi-final.

Shnaider entered as an alternate after Muchova withdrew with a gastrointestinal illness. Andreeva needed 55 minutes to complete the win, leaving both semi-final pairings settled before Saturday’s matches.

Sources

• WTA: Official report on Svitolina’s victory and Group 2 semi-final qualifiers (2026-11-14)
• Sky Sports: Independent Svitolina–Sabalenka and Andreeva–Shnaider match report (2026-11-13)