Aryna Sabalenka Acknowledges her Frustration After an Altercation With her Coach at the WTA Finals

Aryna Sabalenka continued her unbeaten streak at the WTA Finals after winning her second consecutive match. The World No.1 defeated Jessica Pegula in the second round-robin match on Tuesday (November 4) in three sets. However, an altercation with her coach, Anton Dubrov, made waves after the win.

Sabalenka opened her WTA Finals campaign with a strong display over Jasmine Paolini in the first round-robin match. The 27-year-old dropped only four games in a straight-set win over the Italian Open champion. She faced Pegula in the second match as both of them had won their opening matches.

The match between Sabalenka and Pegula was intense and tight from the start to the end as both players tried to dominate the tie. However, Sabalenka was seeking revenge against the American star as she had fallen to her in the semi-finals of the WTA 1000 event in Wuhan last month. Sabalenka broke Pegula once in the opening set to set the tone of the match.

But Pegula quickly with a more clinical display, breaking the US Open champion thrice to force the match to a decider. When the third set began, Sabalenka was noticeably under pressure as she tried to beat Pegula. During the set, she got into an argument with her coach Dubrov, which led to him leaving the stadium, but later regained her focus to win the match 6-4, 2-6, 6-3.

During her on-court interview with Tennis Channel, Sabalenka acknowledged that she was frustrated with her coach, but also agreed that she went a bit too far during her argument with him. She added that she believes it was the right move as she wanted him to know how she felt:

Maybe I went a little bit too much on Anton. If he’s still here, we’re gonna talk but I don’t know where he is. But yeah, I went a bit too much. I was so frustrated inside of me and I was just trying to let it go. Probably, I went too far. Not probably, I went too far. Honestly, I think it was the right move from him, probably, to just let me be on my own. And I don’t want to say the way I wanted to say but he really upset me and I was really, really stressed and angry with him.

Sabalenka has yet to seal her place at the WTA Finals as she needs to win at least one set against Coco Gauff in the third round robin match. The World No.1 will face the American on Thursday (November 6) to secure her place in the semi-finals of the tournament for the third consecutive year.

Aryna Sabalenka admits she had to raise her game to beat Jessica Pegula at the WTA Finals

Aryna Sabalenka had to dig deep against Jessica Pegula, who proved to be a hard nut to crack during their clash. The US Open champion led the former World No.4 8-3 in their head-to-head record ahead of their meeting, but their last three meetings have grown more intense. If Sabalenka hadn’t stepped up her game in the third set, Pegula would have ousted her.

She has now extended her head-to-head lead against Pegula on tour. During the aforementioned interview, Sabalenka revealed that she felt she had to step up her game in the third set of her encounter with Pegula. The 27-year-old added that she has now begun to enjoy her rivalry against the American:

I really enjoy playing against her, she always pushes me to the next level and I felt today was an exchange of unreal tennis from both. In the first set, I don’t know what I did there, some of the points were just ‘wow’ and then in the second set she just turned in around and she was able to play the tennis. In the third set I was like ‘Okay, I have nothing else to do then just to step in and try to play more aggressively and put that pressure back on her and hope for the best’.

Sabalenka has won the year-end World No.1 and she’s safe to start the 2026 season at the top of the WTA rankings. Her arch-rival Iga Swiatek has struggled on the court this season and has crashed out of the WTA Finals after losing back-to-back matches against Elena Rybakina and Amanda Anisimova, respectively.

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