WTA Finals draw: Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff placed in same group

Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff and Marketa Vondrousova, three major champions this year, have been placed in one group at the WTA Finals in Cancun, Mexico. In the draw made on Friday, Aryna Sabalenka, the top-ranked player, is in the other group alongside Elena Rybakina. Heading the Bacalar Group are Rybakina and Sabalenka who have faced each other thrice this season. Sabalenka won the Australian Open for her first Grand Slam title while Rybakina clinched the Indian Wells final and quarter-final clash in Beijing. Also in the group are Jessica Pegula and Maria Sakkari. “Obviously with Aryna and Elena, it’s girls with power games and big servers, so it’s gonna be tricky,” Pegula said. “But I’m happy with my group. Aside from Maria, I actually haven’t played Aryna or Elena that much, so it’s going to be interesting.” The eye-catching draw is the Chetumal group with French Open champion Swiatek, US Open champion Gauff and Wimbledon champion Vondrousova. Swiatek and Gauff will clash for the 10th time in their careers. The group will also see a rematch of the All England final with Ons Jabeur taking on Vondrousova. “You’re not going to get any easy matches in WTA Finals,” Swiatek said. “Obviously I faced Coco and Marketa in Beijing and US Open, so the only player I didn’t play recently is Ons. I just have to focus on myself and get used to the conditions here and everything should be fine.” The two groups, named Bacalar and Chetumal, feature four players each with two of the best players going through to the semi-finals which will be followed by the final. WTA Finals get underway on Sunday, 29 October, with Gauff vs Jabeur and Swiatek vs Vondrousova in the day session. In the evening, Sabalenka will square off with Sakkari and Rabakina will contest against Pegula. WTA Finals draw (singles): Bacalar Group: Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, Jessica Pegula and Maria Sakkari Chetumal Group: Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Ons Jabeur, Marketa Vondrousova WTA Finals draw (doubles): Mahahual Group: Coco Gauff/Jessica Pegula, Barbora Krejcikova/Katerina Siniakova, Vera Zvonareva/Laura Siegemund, Gabriela Dabrowski/Erin Routliffe Maya Ka’an Group: Storm Hunter/Elise Mertens, Shuko Aoyama/Ena Shibahara, Demi Schuurs/Desirae Krawczyk, Nicole Melichar-Martinez/Ellen Perez