Elina Svitolina reached the semi-finals of the WTA Finals in Southern California after beating Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 on Friday. The 32-year-old Ukrainian had lost her first three sets at the tournament before winning the final semi-final place, ending a run of five straight losses to Sabalenka, the four-time major champion.

Svitolina had trailed a break in the opening set before rallying to take it, and then saw Sabalenka find a groove to win the middle set. In the decider she quickly secured two breaks, saved two break points in a hotly contested final game, and converted her fourth match point. The match lasted one hour and 53 minutes, with Svitolina hitting 21 winners to Sabalenka's 20 and committing 11 fewer unforced errors. The win was her tenth Top 10 victory of 2026, matching her previous career-best total from 2017.S1S2

Sabalenka had dominated the head-to-head, winning six of seven meetings, but Svitolina pointed to her semi-final loss to Sabalenka at the Australian Open as a match she had learned from. Her only previous win over Sabalenka came on red clay in Strasbourg in 2020. Svitolina said her movement had been the key, and that she had worked to control what she could after a slow start to the tournament.S1

Svitolina improves to 12-4 across her four WTA Finals appearances. She won the title in 2018 and reached the final in 2019, and is the only former champion to have reached the semi-finals this year. She will face 2026 Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova, a WTA Finals debutante, on Saturday. The other semi-finalists are Noskova, Mirra Andreeva, also making her debut, and Jessica Pegula, another 32-year-old.S1