WTA Finals 2024: Aryna Sabalenka vs Elena Rybakina preview, head-to-head, prediction, odds, and pick

Match Details

Fixture: (1) Aryna Sabalenka vs (5) Elena Rybakina

Date: November 4, 2024

Tournament: WTA Finals 2024

Round: Group stage

Venue: King Saud University Indoor Arena, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Category: Year-end championships

Surface: Hard (Indoor)

Prize Money: $15.25 million

Live Telecast: Tennis Channel (USA) | TSN (Canada) | Sky Sports (UK)

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Aryna Sabalenka vs Elena Rybakina preview

Elena Rybakina hits a backhand during a practice session in Riyadh. (Getty)

Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina will lock horns in a Purple Group encounter at the 2024 WTA Finals on Monday, November 4, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Sabalenka comes to the year-end championships after completing a hat trick of titles at the Wuhan Open. For Rybakina, on the other hand, this is her first tournament participation after the US Open in August. She bowed out of the New York Major with a second-round withdrawal due to a lower back injury.

This will notably be a rematch of the previous year's WTA Finals round-robin encounter for the duo. Sabalenka, the eventual semifinalist won that match 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, denying Rybakina a place in the knockouts.

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Aryna Sabalenka vs Elena Rybakina head-to-head

Sabalenka and Rybakina have emerged as intense rivals on the WTA Tour in recent years. The duo have played against each other nine times thus far with the Belarusian holding a 6-3 lead in the head-to-head. They first met in the 2019 Wuhan Open quarterfinals, where the eventual champion defeated Rybakina 6-3, 1-6, 6-1.

Sabalenka scored three more victories before the Kazakh opened her account in the head-to-head, winning the 2023 Indian Wells Open final 7-6(11), 6-4. The two most recently faced each other in the semifinals of the Madrid Open earlier this year, when Sabalenka prevailed 1-6, 7-5, 7-6(5).

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Aryna Sabalenka vs Elena Rybakina odds

Players	Moneyline	Handicap Bets	Total Games
Sabalenka
Rybakina

(Odds will be updated once available)

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Aryna Sabalenka vs Elena Rybakina prediction

Sabalenka during a practice session in Riyadh (Getty)

Sabalenka has enjoyed great success on the WTA Tour this season, winning the Australian Open, US Open, Cincinnati Open, and Wuhan Open to become the World No. 1.

Rybakina hasn't had similar success despite starting 2024 with title-winning performances in Brisbane and Abu Dhabi. Moreover, she separated from her long-time coach Stefano Vukov under controversial circumstances, causing instability in her team.

Thus, Sabalenka seems likely to come up with the goods in their upcoming Purple Group encounter at the WTA Finals.

Pick: Sabalenka to win in three sets.