Rybakina and Sabalenka to lead season-ending WTA Finals groups at Indian Wells

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP) — 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 Group 2 are No. 3 seed Mirra Andreeva, No. 6 Elina Svitolina and No. 7 Karolina Muchova.

Last year, Rybakina defeated Sabalenka in the final to win the title.

French Open champion Andreeva, Muchova and Wimbledon champion Noskova are making their Finals debuts.

Rybakina will open play Sunday against Noskova, followed by Gauff facing Pegula. The Americans' all-time rivalry is tied 6-6, with Gauff winning their most recent matchup in Cincinnati in August.

Sabalenka leads off Monday's singles matches against Muchova, followed by Andreeva vs. Svitolina.

The event is being played at the home of the BNP Paribas Open that features the combined men’s and women’s tours every March. It was moved to the Southern California desert from Saudi Arabia because of safety and regional security concerns around the Iran war.

In doubles, top-seeded Gabriela Dabrowski and Luisa Stefani lead Group 1 and second-seeded Taylor Townsend and Katerina Siniakova are atop Group 2.

The others in Group 1 are third-seeded Guo Hanyu and Kristina Mladenovic, fifth-seeded Hsieh Su-wei and Jelena Ostapenko and seventh-seeded Elise Mertens and Zhang Shuai.

Mertens won the title last year with Veronika Kudermetova over Stefani, who partnered with Timea Babos.

The rest of Group 2 is No. 4 seeds Cristina Bucsa and Nicole Melichar-Martinez, No. 6 Ellen Perez and Demi Schuurs and No. 8 Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini.

See AP’s full tennis coverage here