The first three matches of 2025 WTA Finals Round Robin action have favored the players who are more recently battle tested both this fall and at previous WTA Finals.
Iga Swiatek, the 2023 WTA Finals champion, defeated Madison Keys who has not played in over two months, in straight sets.
The veteran team of Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini defeated the WTA Finals rookie team of Asia Muhammad and Demi Schuurs also in straight sets.
Elena Rybakina Has Retained Her Asian Form
Elena Rybakina, the last player to qualify just over a week ago, defeated WTA Finals rookie Amanda Anisimova in a surprising one-sided 6-3, 6-1 affair.
Rybakina d. Amanda Anisimova 6-3 6-1 at the WTA Finals in Riyadh
Elena is picking up where she left off in the Asian swing.
7th consecutive win.
7 aces today… she dropped just 4 points on her first serve.
Demolishing the ball corner to corner and firing down relentless… pic.twitter.com/qfiw0rR9B8
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) November 1, 2025
Perhaps the early results are not completely surpising, but the fact that the winners won in such a dominant fashion.
It is worth noting that Elena Rybakina has never gotten out of the Round Robin stage in her previous two appearances at the WTA Finals in 2023 and 2024.
The final doubles match of the day will pit 2025 Wimbledon and 2023 WTA Finals champions Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens against Jelena Ostapenko and Su-wei Hsieh.
WTA Finals Begins Amid Frustration Among Fans
Thankfully, first ball has dropped at the 2025 WTA Finals.
Fans were frustrated by the lack of pre-tournament coverage for this elite end-of-year event featuring the top women in the singles and doubles game.
There was a noticeable lack of real-time coverage for the iconic photo shoot, an occurrence that will not happen next week at the men’s end-of-year event at the Nitto ATP Finals, in Turin, Italy.
