Elina Svitolina ends Aryna Sabalenka's season at WTA Finals

Aryna Sabalenka's 2026 season is over. Elina Svitolina ended it with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 victory at the WTA Finals, concluding Sabalenka's four-year run as a Finals regular. Sabalenka, who claimed three titles this season including the Indian Wells and Miami Sunshine Double, finished the year without a major title for the first time since 2022.

Sabalenka lost the final six games of the match. She double-faulted on a third break point, allowing Svitolina to serve out the contest after one hour and fifty-three minutes. The defeat followed a loss to Mirra Andreeva just two days prior, where Sabalenka also dropped the final eleven games. She closed her season with a 48-13 win-loss record, the best percentage on tour at 81%.

Svitolina advances to semifinals with perfect group stage

Elina Svitolina secured the final semifinal slot with her victory. She finished the group stage with a perfect record, which also included a straight-sets win over Diana Shnaider. Svitolina improved her lifetime record at the WTA Finals to 12-4. Her performance was built on consistency, committing 11 fewer unforced errors than Sabalenka while hitting 21 winners to her opponent's 20. This marked her tenth Top 10 win of 2026, matching her career-best total from 2017.

A champion's comeback continues

This is Svitolina's first WTA Finals appearance since 2019. She is the 2018 champion and the only former winner to reach the semifinals this year. The victory was a significant personal hurdle, improving her head-to-head record against Sabalenka to 2-6. Her only previous win came at Strasbourg in 2020, and she had lost five consecutive matches to the Belarusian. Svitolina felt her Australian Open semifinal loss to Sabalenka earlier in the year had a meaningful impact on her approach.

"It was an extremely tough match, especially mentally," Svitolina said. "I was just trying to play one point at a time." She stated she did not play with a mindset of being scared to lose, but instead with a good fighting spirit for every point.

Andreeva prepares for semi-final clash

Nineteen-year-old Mirra Andreeva also finished the group stage perfectly, beating both Svitolina and Sabalenka. She is the youngest player to reach the WTA Finals knockout stages in 17 years. Andreeva lost only 11 of 47 games across her first three matches and won 12 of the last 13 games to sweep past Diana Shnaider in 55 minutes. She is set to face Jessica Pegula in the semifinals. Andreeva addressed a comment Pegula made privately, calling her a 'diva', noting that Pegula has apologised and that there is 'no drama' between them.

For Sabalenka, the loss concludes a dominant period. She held the world number one ranking for 99 consecutive weeks before being dethroned after the US Open. Over the past four seasons, she made the WTA Finals knockout stages each year and contested nine major finals, winning four. Svitolina will face Czech world number eight Linda Noskova in the semifinals on Saturday.

This is the tournament where you bring everything to the table, Svitolina said, and try to play every game as if it's the last.