Sabalenka-Pegula, Rybakina-Sakkari WTA matches televised in Philippines

MANILA, Philippines – While Philippine tennis has received a shot in the arm with the rise of Alex Eala and Filipino-Canadian Leylah Fernandez, local tennis fans will get a pre-Christmas treat in the form of the season-ending WTA Finals. 

Day 3 in this competition featuring only the eight top-ranked female tennis players in the world finds World No. 1 female player Belarussian Aryna Sabalenka taking on fifth-seeded American Jessica Pegula, and fourth-ranked Russian Elena Rybakina battling eighth-seeded Greek Maria Sakkari in the group stages slated played at the Plaza Quintana Roo in Cancun, Mexico, on Wednesday, November 1.

The matches will be televised live at 3:30 a.m. on the Premier Sports 2 channel on Skycable and Cignal as well as the Tapgo TV streaming application.

In her opening WTA finals match, Sabalenka crushed Sakkari, 6-0 and 6-1, while Pegula hammered out an impressive 7-5 and 6-2 triumph after being down early.

Sabalenka is 4-1 in head-to-head matches with Pegula, who has had problems returning the Belarussian’s serves as well as getting docked points for unforced errors. 

Whether Pegula has turned a leaf in her game as evidenced by her win against Rybakina where she was down 5-3 in the first set, and won the next four games and 10 of the last 12.  

In the 29-year old American’s performance in the 2022 WTA Finals, she went a disappointing 0-6.

Her one advantage is Pegula plays well on hard courts.

The other match-up between Rybakina and Sakkari finds each player with a win against each other. They will need a win today if they want any chances of marching on to the semifinals. 

In the other group of the WTA Finals that was played earlier today, Tuesday, October 31, third-ranked Coco Gauff was leading 6-0 and 1-0 against sixth-seed Ons Jabeur when play was suspended due to rain. 
Iga Swiatek outlasted Marketa Vondrousova 7-6 in the first set then blew the Czech player off the court, 6-0 in the second.