Rybakina and Sabalenka to lead season-ending WTA Finals groups at Indian Wells
The Manila Times · 11/4/2026, 5:04:50 PM Philippine time
Excerpt from The Manila Times. Read the original report below for the complete story.INDIAN WELLS, California — Top-ranked Elena Rybakina and world No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka head their respective singles groups for the WTA Finals, with Americans Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula landing in the same group.The draw on Tuesday divided the eight qualifying singles and doubles teams into round-robin groups for the season-ending championships, which begin Sunday and run through Nov. 15 at Indian Wells Tennis Garden.Each player and team will face the other three in their group over the first six days, with the top two advancing to the semifinals.Besides defending WTA Finals champion Rybakina, fourth-seeded Gauff, fifth-seeded Pegula and No. 8 seed Linda Noskova are in Group 1.“Feeling very excited,” said Rybakina, who won the U.S. Open. “It's definitely every year different. Now we're playing outside. It's a lot of tough players, all great champions.”It's the first time since 2023 in Cancun, Mexico, that the Finals will be played outdoors.After Sabalenka, the others in G