Elina Svitolina won the deciding set in her match against Aryna Sabalenka to achieve a surprise victory 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 on Friday, to reach the semi-finals of the WTA Finals in Indian Wells, where she will face Linda Noskova.
Svitolina succeeded in absorbing Sabalenka's powerful blows and redirecting them effectively, and she broke the Belarusian player's serve six times before sealing her first victory over her opponent in more than six years with a successful forehand strike on the fourth point to win the match.
With this victory, Svitolina raised her score to two victories compared to six defeats against Sabalenka during their career.
“It was a bit of a volatile match,” Svitolina told reporters. I played well in the first set but lost my rhythm a little. She played well in the second and her serves were much better. “I was very happy with the way I was able to come back in the third set after losing the first game.”
Svitolina said that the tournament gave her little respite from the attention accompanying her separation from her retired French husband, Gael Monfils, as the intense scrutiny and hostile comments on social media increased the difficulty of this already difficult period.
Ukrainian Svitolina did not shake hands with her opponent Sabalenka again after the match, maintaining her policy of not shaking hands with Russian and Belarusian players in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Svitolina, who won the season-ending tournament title in 2018, will face Noskova later on Saturday in order to reserve a place in the final.
This defeat ended Sabalenka's season with a disappointing end. The second seed won the Brisbane International Championship last January, then the Indian Wells and Miami Open tournaments in March, achieving the “Rising Sun Double,” but she did not win any other title after that.
Sabalenka also lost the top spot in the world rankings to Elena Rybakina at the US Open. She entered the final tournament among the favorites to win the title after Rybakina withdrew on the eve of the tournament due to illness.
Sabalenka refused to speak to the media following her loss.
The Indiana Pacers withstood the defending champion New York Knicks to win 106-104 on Friday, leaving the Knicks' ambition to retain the NBA Cup in trouble, while the runner-up San Antonio Spurs crushed their opponent, the Golden State Warriors, 123-85, in their eleventh consecutive victory.
Last year, the Knicks won the tournament held during the season with a system of 3 groups for each region, and its points are also counted in the regular season of the league, which turned out to be a prelude to their journey towards their first title in the “NBA” since 1973.
But after failing to erase a 14-point deficit in the third quarter, the Knicks fell in their second Cup game.
He was not eliminated mathematically, but in the previous three editions of the cup, no team that lost two matches in the group stage reached the playoffs.
Cameroonian Pascal Siakam scored 19 points, leading a balanced attack for the Pacers.
Aaron Nesmith scored 18 points, Kelly Oubre Jr. added 16, and Croatian Ivica Zubats and Canadian Andrew Nemhard contributed 12 points each to lead Indiana, which was again without its injured star, Tyrese Haliburton.
Star Jaylen Brunson scored 33 points and had 11 assists for the Knicks, who tied 87-87 at the start of the fourth quarter before the Pacers pulled away again with a 15-2 run.
The Knicks made a final attempt, reducing the gap to two points, but Dominican Karl-Anthony Towns, who scored 23 points and grabbed 15 rebounds, failed to score a possible basket to tie the game with 0.9 seconds left.
Pacers coach Rick Carlisle, whose team outscored the Knicks 50-30, said: “Very proud of our team. We were underdogs before this game.”
Carlisle added: “In the second half, things became difficult. “New York is a champion team, and it knows how to come back in the result, but our players remained cohesive and continued to fight together.”
The Knicks are in last place in Group Two in the Eastern Conference, and will host the Cleveland Cavaliers and Miami Heat in their final two matches in the group stage.
In Miami, Greek Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo scored 37 points each to lead the Heat to a 133-121 victory over the Cavaliers.
Adebayo added 14 rebounds, and Devon Mitchell contributed 22 points and 17 assists, helping the Heat improve their record to 2-0 in the Cup, at the top of the group, and 6-6 on the season.
The San Antonio Spurs defeated the Warriors 123-85, thanks to Stephon Castle scoring 32 points.
Frenchman Victor Wembanyama added 12 points and 12 rebounds for the Spurs, who opened the match with an 18-0 run, and led by 43 points over the Warriors, who played without their injured star, Stephen Curry.
LJ Cryer scored 20 points to lead the Warriors, as none of Golden State's starters scored in double figures.
Veteran Draymond Green finished the game with four points, and received a violent foul due to a push from behind that knocked Wimpanyama off the field, in the middle of the second quarter.
In the final match of the night, the Los Angeles Clippers improved their record to 1-1 in the Cup, and 3-8 overall, with a hard-fought 113-112 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Darius Garland sealed the victory with a three-pointer less than a minute before the end, as he penetrated towards the basket and scored a close shot that tied the score at 112-112, and he was fouled and converted the free throw into the winning point.
Brook Lopez scored 11 of his 26 points in the final quarter, and the Clippers withstood a 40-point performance by Canadian Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who won the MVP award twice in a row with Oklahoma City, who failed on two attempts in the final seconds.
