Aryna Sabalenka eliminated Jessica Pegula from the WTA Finals with a 6-3, 7-5 group stage victory on Friday.

No. 7 Sabalenka finished 2-1 in group play and advanced to the semi-finals when fifth-ranked Maria Sakkari won the first set of the late match against No. 2 Ons Jabeur. Sakkari is already in the semi-finals. She defeated Jabeur 6-2, 6-3.

Sabalenka made a blistering start, breaking Pegula to open the match and again for a 5-2 lead. World No.3 Pegula then fought off four set points to break straight back but Sabalenka broke to love in the next game to wrap up the set.

Pegula fell behind 2-0 in the second but fought back before Sabalenka, at 3-3, delivered a love hold and then came back from 40-15 down for a crushing service break before the top-ranked American returned the favour to extend the set.

But Sabalenka held to love for the third time in the set and fourth in the match for a 6-5 lead and then closed it out on her second match point when she ripped a backhand crosscourt winner.

“She’s an amazing player and she made me really work tonight,” Sabalenka said in her on-court interview. “Just happy that I was really focused from the beginning to the end and I was able to finish this match in two sets.

Pegula dropped her head to the table in front of the microphone, smiling while hoping there might be a consolation victory awaiting the American in her WTA Finals debut.

The Buffalo native was honest about going winless in all three singles matches, capped by Friday’s loss to Sabalenka, and taking an 0-2 doubles record into her finale with fellow American Coco Gauff.

Pegula also tried to remember the strong season that got her to Texas with a No. 3 ranking, and made her and Gauff the first Americans to debut at the WTA Finals in singles and doubles since Lindsay Davenport in 1994.

“I keep telling myself I had such a great year, but that’s the tough thing with tennis is you end the year really well and then I come here and I lose all my matches,” the 28-year-old said.

“I mean, I don’t think I’ve lost this many matches in a short amount of time, this is like the same amount in like three months or something, almost?”

Sabalenka, who didn’t qualify for the semi-finals in her WTA Finals debut last year in Guadalajara, knew a straight-sets victory improved her chances of advancing. The 24-year-old got it — and a fourth consecutive straight-sets win over Pegula — despite double-faulting three times serving for the match at 5-3. She did the same thing earlier in the second set.

Pegula had a chance to force a tie-breaker on her serve, but Sabalenka finished her off with a backhand crosscourt winner on her second match point.

“I kept telling myself just stay focused, just keep fighting,” Sabalenka said. “It doesn’t matter, two or three sets. Just keep fighting. Just get the win, get extra points and then move on.”

The hard-hitting Sabalenka never trailed in overpowering Pegula from the start, finishing with a 26-13 edge in winners and five aces.

Sabalenka didn’t qualify for the season-ending event until the last week of the regular season in Guadalajara, and was two points from defeat in her opener before rallying to beat Jabeur, a US Open finalist this year.

Milestone on Novak’s radar

Paris: Novak Djokovic stayed on course for a record-extending seventh Paris Masters title by dispatching Lorenzo Musetti 6-0, 6-3 in the quarter finals.

Djokovic, who has titles in Israel and Kazakhstan this season, is chasing a record-extending 39th Masters title. Musetti caused Djokovic problems in the French Open fourth round last year, leading by two sets before retiring in the fifth.

Not this time, as the sixth-seeded Serb bulldozed the first set in 24 minutes against the unseeded Italian. They swapped breaks at the start of the second set as Musetti briefly rallied for 2-2.

Serving for the match, Djokovic held to love and clinched victory when Musettei swiped a wild forehand into the net.

Djokovic next faces Stefanos Tsitsipas after the fifth-seeded Greek won 6-2, 6-4 against unseeded American Tommy Paul, who knocked out Rafael Nadal in the second round.

Djokovic leads Tsitsipas 8-2, with the past three of Djokovic’s seven straight wins all coming in finals — including a five-set thriller at last year’s French Open, where Djokovic rallied from two sets down.

Earlier, top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz was stopped by unseeded Holger Rune of Denmark, who reached his first semis at Masters level.

In a match pitting 19-yearold former junior doubles partners, Rune was leading 6-3, 6-6 and 3-1 in the tie-breaker when the U.S. Open champion Alcaraz retired, a few minutes after having treatment on an abdominal muscle at the changeover.

“I thought it was a great match. Unlucky for him,” Rune said. “We both played very well and I was super focused.”