Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina will renew their rivalry at the WTA Finals as they have been drawn in the same group.
Sabalenka is aiming to end the year as world number one and will face Elena Rybakina as her main contender in her group.
The world number one leads the head-to-head 6-3 but are tied at 1-1 for the year with Rybakina winning their hard court meeting this season.
The season-ending finale in Riyadh will be Rybakina’s first tournament since the US Open where the world number five withdrew in the second round.
Rybakina’s first opponent of the competition will be against Roland Garros and Wimbledon finalist Jasmine Paolini who is playing her first singles event at the WTA Finals.
It’s been a sensational season for the Italian who has exceeded all expectations this year to make the season-ending finale.
Meanwhile Sabalenka will play Qinwen Zheng in her first match with the Olympic gold medallist completing the line-up for the purple group.
Zheng has an awful record having lost on all four occasions to the top seed with three of those matches being this year.
Hoping to take Sabalenka’s world number one ranking off her is Iga Swiatek with the Pole returning to the tour for the first time since losing to Jessica Pegula in the US Open quarter-finals.
The Pole will face Pegula in her group with Swiatek being joined by new coach Wim Fissette since the Belgian’s departure from Naomi Osaka’s team.
Also in the orange group is recent China Open champion Coco Gauff as well as Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova.
The purple group will begin the tournament on Saturday.
