Rybakina Pulls Out of WTA Finals as Gauff Beats Pegula in Opener

World No. 1 Elena Rybakina will not defend her WTA Finals title. The defending champion withdrew on Saturday, the eve of the season-ending event in Indian Wells, saying her body was not physically ready to compete, and Marta Kostyuk took her place in the draw. The tournament opened without its top seed, and Coco Gauff made the most of the changed picture by beating Jessica Pegula 6-4 6-7(5) 6-2 in the first match.

Why did Rybakina pull out of the WTA Finals?

Because the season caught up with her in the final week. “I am really sad to inform all my fans and supporters that I unfortunately have to withdraw from the WTA Finals this year,” Rybakina said in a statement, Sky Sports reports. “I have had an incredible season but my body is just not physically ready to compete. I am going to spend some time resting and recovering at home and getting myself ready for the 2027 season.” Tournament director Garbine Muguruza told Reuters she had spoken to Rybakina on Saturday and that she really could not recover on time after struggling with physical problems late in the season. “We love Elena and we know that she was feeling so-so in Tokyo as well,” Muguruza said. “What we want is for her to feel good, to go rest, to recover. We don’t want her to feel like she has to play, only if she’s ready to.” Rybakina also withdrew from the Tokyo quarter-finals last month because of a neck injury, BusinessWorld reports, and she was due to open the Finals against Linda Noskova on Sunday. The withdrawal ends a season in which she won two Grand Slam titles, the Australian Open and the US Open, and still finishes as world No. 1 with a 54-14 record and four titles.

Who took Rybakina’s place in the draw?

The alternate who was already there. Marta Kostyuk was in Indian Wells practicing as the alternate when Rybakina withdrew, BusinessWorld reports, so she stepped straight into the eight-player field and into Group 1, where Rybakina’s place had been. Muguruza said the Ukrainian had earned the opportunity after a breakthrough season that included the Madrid title and a rise into the top 10. “Marta is great. She has had a breakthrough year,” Muguruza said. “With this year, we have many first-time players in the Finals, and that is very exciting. It is very hard to qualify.” Kostyuk’s promotion is the kind of thing the round-robin format is built for: one withdrawal does not cancel a match, it changes the opponent, and the player who had been hitting on the practice courts on Saturday was playing for real on Sunday. Her first match was against Noskova, the Wimbledon champion she had been scheduled to watch from the sidelines, and the same Noskova who won Wimbledon as a 21-year-old is now the player standing between Kostyuk and a winning start.

How did Gauff beat Pegula in the opener?

By winning the set that refused to end. Gauff took the first set 6-4, breaking on her fourth set point, Reuters reports, and then the second set turned into the match. Pegula won the first three games, Gauff clawed back to 3-5, and then saved three set points in the 10th game before winning a marathon 10-minute 11th game, shouting in celebration as she clinched it. Pegula still saved a match point in the 12th game and took the tiebreak with a lethal shot down the line, and for a moment the opener looked like it would run away from the 2024 champion. Gauff answered by breaking early in the third set, extending her lead to 5-2 with a run to the net that forced an error, and closing it on her third match point as Pegula sent one past the baseline. The two Americans were 5-5 in their head-to-head before Sunday, and Gauff had beaten Pegula in Cincinnati three months ago with the same formula, Reuters reports. Gauff’s season has already carried one fight beyond the court, when she called out racist abuse after a replayed point in Beijing, and the Indian Wells opener showed the same player who refuses to let a match go.

What happened in the other opening match?

Noskova made the replacement pay for the short notice. The Wimbledon champion beat Kostyuk 6-2 6-4 in her WTA Finals debut, Reuters reports, hitting 20 winners and sealing the match with an unreturnable forehand to the back corner. The pair traded early breaks before Noskova took control of the first set, and Kostyuk, drafted in only the day before after Rybakina pulled out, was never able to settle, failing to hold serve until the seventh game. “I definitely wanted to give this week one last push of the season. It’s a long year, we all are kind of drained and injured and all the things together, but it’s one of the most important tournaments of the year,” Noskova said. She reached the semi-finals at Indian Wells earlier this year, and the desert suits her game. Rybakina’s own autumn had already shown the toll, when she took the No. 1 spot from Sabalenka and then lost her opening match in Beijing, and the Finals have now lost the player who was supposed to headline them.

Does Rybakina still finish the year as world No. 1?

Yes, and that is the one thing the withdrawal does not change. Sky Sports reports Rybakina will still end the season as world No. 1 despite pulling out, finishing with a 54-14 record and four titles: the Australian Open, Stuttgart, the US Open and Ningbo. She won the Finals last year going undefeated in Riyadh, and she was the first player to earn a spot this year after winning the US Open. The withdrawal does open a door for world No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, who won the Indian Wells title earlier this year and can now reduce the gap at the top, BusinessWorld reports. Sabalenka is a two-time runner-up at the Finals, and a strong week in the desert would be the closest she has come to the year-end No. 1. The year-end No. 1 race on the men’s side was settled in Paris last week, where Alcaraz won the title and Zverev’s path closed, and the women’s race now has the same shape: a champion absent, a challenger with the arithmetic, and a week of round-robin matches to decide how much the gap closes.

What happens next in Indian Wells?

The group plays on without its top seed. Gauff, Pegula, Noskova and Kostyuk now contest a group that was drawn around Rybakina, and the first day has already shown how open it is: the 2024 champion needed three sets and a 10-minute game to beat her compatriot, and the debutant Wimbledon champion beat the replacement in straight sets. The Finals run to November 15, and the round-robin format means every match still matters for the semi-finals, even with the defending champion gone. The men’s finale in Turin starts a week later, with a debutant qualifier of its own in Rafael Jodar, and the two season finales now share a theme: the established order stepping aside, and the players who were waiting on the edge of the draw stepping in.