The Weekly Update: Pro Tennis Around The Globe

What happened in pro tennis around the globe in the past week? Plenty. We can't cover it all here but a few key highlights follow below in order to catch you up on all the action... 

Zverev Cruises To Victory In Paris

It wasn't an extremely hard week for Alexander Zverev at the Rolex Paris Masters, as the 27-year-old claimed his second title of the year losing just one set all week. And his final opponent, Ugo Humbert, wasn't able to get into any sort of rhythm during the final, letting the German dominate the match and win 6-2, 6-2. Humbert was coming off a long week as he previously defeated the expected champion Carlos Alcaraz in the Round of 16, and spent several more hours on court before the final than his opponent did. By the end, the Frenchman didn't have any steam for the final and Zverev was able to control on all fronts---holding serve easily and breaking Humbert four times, as well as dragging the points out to exhaust him leading to the Frenchman making a high number of unforced errors. Also this week, Zverev took down long-time rival Stefanos Tstisipas, a tricky Holger Rune, and a very in-form Arthur Fils on his road to the final. Zverev said: “I didn't have a feeling it was going to be two and two, but actually from the start and from the rallies in the first games, even when I lost the rallies, I felt like the ball was feeling good on my racquet. When I have this feeling, I feel well on the court. I feel comfortable and confident, maybe being a bit more aggressive, going for more shots than I usually do."

WTA Finals Kicks Off

It's that time of the year! The WTA Finals have started, and intense action is already heating up. On Saturday, Jasmine Paolini took down Elena Rybakina in an uncomfortably-close battle, 7-6, 6-4, with both players executing their game plans well. In the end though, the Italian was able to get a break in second set which was the arguably the deciding factor in the match, and even though she may not have the most powerful serve, Paolini was able to keep her composure and book half of her ticket to the semi-finals. 

Above: WTA Finals Ambassador Ons Jabeur conducts the coin toss ahead of the Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula match. Source: WTA.

Also on Saturday, #1st seed Aryna Sabalenka won a mildly-comfortable match against Qinwen Zheng, 6-3, 6-4. An unusual weapon proved to be a key part of this match: Sabalenka's serve. She was able to rack up a very impressive 94% win on first serve, double-faulting only once. This is a major change from what we were seeing in the Belarusian just months ago. She also returned well and broke Zheng twice, one in each set, and that was all it took to claim the victory. 

American Coco Gauff played beautiful tennis this past Sunday, defeating country-woman Jessica Pegula 6-3, 6-2. Pegula was not able to do much to contend with Coco's steady baseline game, which was able to attack on all angles and put the ball where it needed to go. While Gauff did not serve exceptionally, she stayed in a focused, steady flow that contributed to her win. While Pegula was able to break Gauff twice, Coco was able to do the same right back, taking Jess's serve five times, and in the end it wasn't the serve that mattered, and as earlier mentioned, it was how both women played their baseline games, and obviously Coco was able to execute that much better than Pegula. 

Above: Iga Swiatek celebrates a point during her comeback win against Barbora Krejcikova at the 2024 WTA Finals. Source: WTA.

2nd seed Iga Swiatek was able to dig herself out of a nasty hole to earn her first win in Riyadh! After being 4-6, 0-3 down, the Pole pulled a hat trick and tapped into a whole new level that won her the second set 7-5, and eventually the third 6-2. This is clearly a good sign for Swiatek who hasn't played since the US Open and has now been thrust into the shadow of Sabalenka who has had an extremely good fall. Next, Swiatek will take on both Gauff and Pegula in the "group-stage", and she just needs to win one of those battles to book her spot to the semi-finals. 

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Written by Will Turvey. Top photo:  Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour.