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Aryna Sabalenka US Open 2021
Tennis News, WTA Tennis Players

Aryna Sabalenka and Barbora Krejcikova headline groups at WTA Finals


Top seed Aryna Sabalenka has been drawn in the same group as former French Open champion Iga Swiatek at the prestigious WTA Finals. 

The end-of-year event, which will get underway on Wednesday, sees the top eight singles and doubles players lock horns with a total prize pot of $5 million.

This year’s edition is the 50th in the history of the event, though the first to take place in South America (Guadalajara) after the tournament was relocated from Asia due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The players were drawn into two high-quality groups on Tuesday, named after ancient cities in Mexico.

In the Chicen Itza group, top seed Aryna Sabalenka will battle it out against former French Open champion Iga Swiatek, Maria Sakkari, who is enjoying her best year on the WTA Tour and Indian Wells champion Paula Badosa.

On the other side of the draw, second seed Barbora Krejcikova stars in the Teotihuacán pool alongside third seed Karolina Pliskova, two-time Grand Slam champion Garbine Muguruza and the rapidly improving Anette Kontaveit.

The two highest ranked players from each group will progress to the semi-final stages, whilst the bottom two will be eliminated from the event.

No player in the draw has lifted the WTA Finals crown, with last year’s champion Ash Barty deciding to skip the event after returning to Australia ahead of the Grand Slam early next year.

Teotihuacán
2. Barbora Krejcikova (CZE)
3. Karolina Pliskova (CZE)
6. Garbiñe Muguruza (ESP)
8. Anett Kontaveit (EST)

Chichén Itzá
1. Aryna Sabalenka (BLR)
4. Maria Sakkari (GRE)
5. Iga Swiatek (POL)
7. Paula Badosa (ESP)


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Tim Farthing, Tennishead Editorial Director & Owner, has been a huge tennis fan his whole life. He's a tennis journalist and entrepreneur as well as playing tennis to a national standard. He also helps manage his local club and volunteers for his local tennis organisation. He's a specialist in content about the administration of professional tennis and tennis coaching for all levels.