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Wins for Sabalenka and Paolini on Opening Day of WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia

Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in action during her Singles group stage match against Qinwen Zheng of China at the WTA Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 02 November 2024. EPA/STRINGER
Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in action during her Singles group stage match against Qinwen Zheng of China at the WTA Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 02 November 2024. EPA/STRINGER
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Wins for Sabalenka and Paolini on Opening Day of WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia

Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in action during her Singles group stage match against Qinwen Zheng of China at the WTA Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 02 November 2024. EPA/STRINGER
Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in action during her Singles group stage match against Qinwen Zheng of China at the WTA Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 02 November 2024. EPA/STRINGER

Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka eased to a straight-set victory over Zheng Qinwen in the opening match of the WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia on Saturday.
Sabalenka won 6-3, 6-4 to extend her perfect record against the Chinese player to 5-0. It was also her 21st win in her last 22 matches.
The seventh-seeded Zheng lost the last three games as her focus slipped, and also appeared to have lost track of the score. After hitting a backhand long on match point, Zheng headed toward her chair on what she seemed to think was a change of ends instead of going to the net for the traditional handshake.
She smiled and held up her hand in apology after realizing before heading back to the center.
The victory also sets up Sabalenka for ending the year at the top. The Belarusian player only needs to win two of her three group matches to ensure she retains the No. 1 ranking.
Fourth-seeded Jasmine Paolini of Italy beat fifth-seeded Elena Rybakina in the other Purple Group match.
Paolini, who is enjoying a breakout season, edged a tight match 7-6 (5), 6-4 on her debut at the year-ending tournament for the top eight ranked players.
American players Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula will face off in the Orange Group on Sunday after second-seeded Iga Swiatek takes on Barbora Krejcikova.

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All Eyes on Tsunoda at Japan GP After Ruthless Red Bull Move 

Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda of Japan smiles during a press conference in Tokyo, ahead of the Japanese Formula 1 Grand Prix, Wednesday, April 2, 2025.(Kyodo News via AP)
Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda of Japan smiles during a press conference in Tokyo, ahead of the Japanese Formula 1 Grand Prix, Wednesday, April 2, 2025.(Kyodo News via AP)
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All Eyes on Tsunoda at Japan GP After Ruthless Red Bull Move 

Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda of Japan smiles during a press conference in Tokyo, ahead of the Japanese Formula 1 Grand Prix, Wednesday, April 2, 2025.(Kyodo News via AP)
Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda of Japan smiles during a press conference in Tokyo, ahead of the Japanese Formula 1 Grand Prix, Wednesday, April 2, 2025.(Kyodo News via AP)

Yuki Tsunoda will be center of attention at his home Japanese Grand Prix this weekend after joining Max Verstappen at a Red Bull team desperate to reel in McLaren following their ominous start to the season.

Tsunoda was already a hero at Suzuka but his sudden promotion at the expense of Liam Lawson puts him under a whole new level of scrutiny as partner to the four-time world champion Verstappen.

Red Bull axed Lawson last week after the New Zealander's disastrous start to his debut season, which saw him fail to score any points in the first two race weekends.

The 24-year-old Tsunoda steps up from sister team RB, with Lawson moving the other way to the team he drove for last season.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has told the Japanese driver to get as "close as possible" to Verstappen, said Tsunoda, whose highest finish at a race is fourth in 2021 at Abu Dhabi for RB, then called AlphaTauri.

"In the end Red Bull Racing are focused on Max scoring a drivers' championship," Tsunoda told the BBC.

"He also promised me, in some situations, that if I'm able to be in front of Max that he wouldn't necessarily ask me to swap positions and make Max win."

Tsunoda said he will be happy if he can finish in the top 10 and score points on his Red Bull debut.

Now in his fifth Formula One season, he has shown pace this season.

He was 12th in the season-opener at Melbourne then picked up three points for coming sixth in the Shanghai Saturday sprint.

He only finished out of the points in the China main race because of RB's flawed two-stop pit strategy.

Red Bull's cars will have a special white livery at Suzuka in tribute to their partner Honda's maiden victory in Formula One, in Mexico in 1965.

Verstappen is second in the drivers' standings but Horner needs his ruthless driver change to kick-start Red Bull's constructors' championship campaign after ceding early ground to McLaren.

- Suzuka specialist Verstappen -

Australia's Oscar Piastri led teammate Lando Norris to a one-two in Shanghai, after the Briton took the chequered flag in Melbourne.

"Apart from Ferrari I don't think there's another team that has two drivers that push each other anywhere near as much," said Norris, who leads the drivers' championship on 44 points.

"For us, that's a huge advantage."

Norris is 12 ahead of Verstappen with Mercedes' George Russell third on 35 and Piastri on 34.

Verstappen has yet to win this season -- he was second in Melbourne, fourth in the Chinese GP and third in the Shanghai sprint.

But the Dutchman has won in Japan for the last three years in a row, clinching his second world championship there in 2022, and has spoken frequently of his love for the "old school" Suzuka circuit.

He romped home 12.5sec clear of Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez last season.

"Whenever I needed to go faster I could, whenever I needed to look after my tires I could," said Verstappen. "That's always a nice feeling."

Ferrari will be looking to get their season into gear in Japan after a calamitous outing in China two weeks ago.

The Italian team started the weekend on a high when Lewis Hamilton controlled the sprint from pole for his first win in Scuderia red.

But their joy turned to despair when the seven-time world champion and teammate Charles Leclerc were both disqualified from the main race for technical infringements.

Hamilton's former team Mercedes have made a solid start with a pair of third-placed finishes from Russell.

Teenage rookie Kimi Antonelli has also shown early promise, finishing fourth and sixth in his first two grands prix.