WTA Finals: Swiatek Dominates Keys, Rybakina Easily Defeats Anisimova

On November 1, 2025, the Riyadh WTA Finals kicked off its first day of competition with matches from the Williams singles group and Navratilova doubles group.

Swiatek

In the first round of the Williams singles group, second seed Swiatek played impressively in the opening match, sweeping seventh seed Keys 6-1, 6-2 in only 61 minutes to secure a winning start. This season, the two have met twice: Keys saved match points to claim victory in the Australian Open semifinal and won her first Grand Slam title; meanwhile, Swiatek came back strongly after being bageled in the first set at the Madrid quarterfinal to take the match.

After the match, Swiatek said, “Everything I practiced before came together today, striking a balance between consistency and aggression. Overall, I’m pleased with the progress I made after the China season, especially the training in Warsaw, which gave me confidence to keep moving forward. I’m happy to have performed well today and will prepare to maintain this level in the coming days.”

Rybakina

Next up, sixth seed Rybakina showed no signs of backing down, defeating fourth seed Anisimova 6-3, 6-1 in just 57 minutes, extending her winning streak to seven matches. Although Rybakina secured her spot in the WTA Finals only at the last moment, she entered as the sixth seed due to her ranking points. Notably, this marks her first career win over a world No. 4 player. In the past two years at the WTA Finals, Rybakina exited in the group stage with a 1-2 record; this year, she aims to reach the semifinals for the first time.

In the first round of the Navratilova doubles group, top seeds Errani/Paolini defeated eighth seeds Stosur/Muhammad 6-3, 6-3; meanwhile, sixth seeds Hsieh/Ostapenko came from behind to beat fourth seeds Mertens/Kudermetova 1-6, 7-5, 10-5, gaining an early advantage in the group stage.

(Written and edited by: Dato, Photos: Visual China)