WTA Finals: Sabalenka defeats Zheng, get first win for purple group

Sabalenka forcefully defeated Zheng Qinwen 6-3, 6-4 — and hiked her record against the rising Chinese star to 5-0. Sabalenka has now won 21 of 22 matches.

The World No.1 is undefeated in their last 11 opening round-robin matches at the WTA Finals. Moreover, Sabalenka has won 11 matches this year against the seven other finalists — more than any of them have against the field. She also leads the WTA Tour with 10 wins against Top 10 opponents.

The Purple Group features the three biggest servers in the game — Sabalenka, Zheng and Elena Rybakina.

With record prize money available, Sabalenka collected a cool $350,000 for the victory, as well as 200 rankings points. If she can sweep the Purple Group, with wins next week against No.4 Jasmine Paolini and No.5 Elena Rybakina, the prize money will be secondary to her first year-end No.1 ranking.