The best eight players of the year have gathered in Riyadh, and there\u2019s no easing into this one. With elite shot-making and major championship experience on display, the round-robin stage already brings blockbuster clashes. As always we bring you our predictions for both matches on day one. Who do you back to get their first win in Riyadh?<\/p>\n
Head-to-Head:<\/strong> first meeting<\/p>\n Elena Rybakina arrives at the WTA Finals for the third straight year as one of the most reliable performers of the season, even if the big titles eluded her. With 51 match wins, two trophies, and strong WTA 1000 semifinal runs, she has built a solid body of work\u2014though she\u2019ll still feel she left opportunities behind. Her serve continues to be a major weapon, leading the tour in aces, and she has improved her success against top-10 opposition. But she has yet to make it out of the group stage at this event, and the late withdrawal in Tokyo adds a bit of uncertainty about her readiness.<\/p>\n Amanda Anisimova, on the other hand, is riding the wave of her breakthrough season, highlighted by two WTA 1000 titles and finals at both Wimbledon and the US Open. Her top-10 record this year suggests she won\u2019t be intimidated by the stage or the matchup, even if this is her debut appearance. With no prior meetings between the two, this feels like a clean slate battle\u2014but Rybakina\u2019s experience with the format could give her a subtle edge. Expect powerful exchanges throughout, yet consistency in the big moments may ultimately decide this one.<\/p>\n Prediction: Anisimova in 3<\/p>\n Head-to-Head:<\/strong> Swiatek 5\u20132 Keys<\/p>\n Iga Swiatek returns to the WTA Finals for the fifth straight year, but she comes in with a season that hasn\u2019t fully matched her lofty standards. Three titles\u2014including a first Wimbledon crown\u2014show her ceiling remains sky-high, yet ten quarterfinal or semifinal exits highlight the inconsistency that has slowed her momentum. She also hasn\u2019t been as dominant against the very best, holding an 8\u20136 record versus top-10 players\u2014her lowest success rate since 2021. Still, she knows how to peak at this event, having won it in 2023, even if two of her past appearances ended in the group stage.<\/p>\n Madison Keys, meanwhile, rides the success of her brilliant Australian swing but hasn\u2019t maintained that level since, with just five quarterfinals and no wins since Cincinnati. Her match sharpness is a real concern, especially after skipping the entire Asian swing and going over two months without competition. With Swiatek leading the head-to-head 5\u20132 and already avenging her Australian Open defeat earlier this year, the Pole enters with a clear edge. Expect Keys to show flashes of her big-hitting best, but Swiatek\u2019s rhythm and confidence look more trustworthy at this stage of the season.<\/p>\n Prediction: Swiatek in 2<\/p>\n Main Photo Credit:\u00a0Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The best eight players of the year have gathered in Riyadh, and there\u2019s no easing into this one. With elite shot-making and major championship experience on display, the round-robin stage already brings blockbuster clashes. As always we bring you our predictions for both matches on day one. Who do you back to get their first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4590,"featured_media":90394,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[43339,2746,15657,5595,15653,4315,15631,63,15645,2373,2369,297,17039,9514],"class_list":["post-93225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-predictions","tag-2025-wta-finals","tag-amanda-anisimova","tag-amanda-anisimova-predictions","tag-elena-rybakina","tag-elena-rybakina-predictions","tag-iga-swiatek","tag-iga-swiatek-predictions","tag-madison-keys","tag-madison-keys-predictions","tag-tennis-picks","tag-tennis-predictions","tag-wta-finals","tag-wta-finals-prediction","tag-wta-finals-predictions"],"modified_by":"Steen Kirby","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4590"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93225"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93277,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93225\/revisions\/93277"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Iga Swiatek vs Madison Keys<\/h4>\n