WTA Finals: Brilliant stats as Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula set up spicy clashes

Shahida Jacobs
Coco Gauff 2023 US Open
Coco Gauff reacts at the 2023 US Open

And then there were four! Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff have punched the final three tickets for the 2023 WTA Finals semi-finals with contrasting wins.

World No 1 Sabalenka overcame a rain delay, wind and Elena Rybakina to move into the last four with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 victory. Gauff also went the distance against Marketa Vondrousova as she won 5-7, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3 while Swiatek dropped just three games as she beat Ons Jabeur 6-1, 6-2.

They join Jessica Pegula in the semi-finals and the schedule is as follows:

As the unbeaten winner of the Bacalar Group, Pegula will take on Gauff while Chetumal Group winner Swiatek faces Sabalenka in what is effectively a shootout for the world No 1 ranking. If Sabalenka wins the match then Swiatek can no longer finish as the year-end No 1.

But the latest matches at the WTA Finals have dished up some brilliant statistics – as per OptaAce (@OptaAce).

– Only four players have won 50+ matches on the WTA main draw this year and all four of them are in the semi-finals. Swiatek leads the way with 66 wins, Pegula has 56 wins, Sabalenka is on 55 wins and Gauff has 51 wins.

– The world No 1 (Sabalenka) and world No 2 (Swiatek) will face each other for only the fourth time in the WTA Finals semi-finals in the past 40 years. Ashleigh Barty and Karolina Pliskova were the last pair to do it in 2019. Before them it was Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova in 2012 and Caroline Wozniacki and Vera Zvonareva in 2010.

– The world No 1 has reached the WTA Finals semi-finals in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2013-2014 (Serena Williams in both editions). Swiatek reached the last four as world No 1 last year and this year Sabalenka made it to the semi-finals.

– Swiatek has dropped only 14 games en route to the semi-final. Justine Henin has the record for the fewest games dropped in the group phase since the new format was started in 2003 as she lost only 11 games in 2007 while last year Swiatek lost 13 games.

– The 22-year-old Swiatek is the youngest player to advance to the semi-finals at the WTA Finals for consecutive seasons since Caroline Wozniacki in 2009-2010.

– US Open champion Coco Gauff, aged 19, is the first teenager to reach the last four of the WTA Finals since Caroline Wozniacki in 2009.

– Gauff (51) is the first American teenager since Venus Williams in 1999 to win more than 50 matches in a WTA season.

– Gauff and Pegula will play in the first all-American semi-final at the WTA Finals since Serena Williams and Jennifer Capriati squared off in 2002.

READ MORE: Jessica Pegula stays unbeaten at WTA Finals and confirms major news about Coco Gauff partnership

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