World number five Jessica Pegula defeated Greece’s Maria Sakkari in straight sets 6-3 6-2 in the WTA Finals, continuing her unbeaten run through the group stages.

Pegula had already secured her spot in Saturday’s semi-finals by beating both Sabalenka and Rybakina in her earlier matches in Mexico.

But the American is yet to drop a set so far this tournament and it took her just under 80 minutes to beat Sakkari, who failed to qualify for the semi-finals after losing all of her games.

Meanwhile, fighting for a spot in the semi-finals, world number one Aryna Sabalenka and world number four Elena Rybakina had their match suspended due to wet weather.

Sabalenka won the first set 6-2 in the Australian Open final rematch on a rain interrupted evening and had Rybakina on the ropes early in the second set.

But Rybakina fought back to take the lead 5-3 before the match was called off for the night, with play to resume on Friday.

Also on Friday, Iga Swiatek will take on Ons Jabeur while Coco Gauff plays Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova to decide who makes the semi-finals.

Gilles Simon has warned that Carlos Alcaraz dominating men's tennis is no certainty.

Alcaraz has enjoyed a stunning rise to the top of the rankings over the past two seasons, with the 20-year-old winning two grand slam titles and 12 trophies overall.

The Spaniard has not won a title since triumphing at Wimbledon in July, however, and has reached only one final since then, losing to Novak Djokovic at the Western & Southern Open in August.

A shock defeat to Roman Safiullin at the Paris Masters this week has damaged Alcaraz's chances of pipping Djokovic to the year-end world number one, and Simon does not feel he is a shoo-in to be the standout player of the next generation.

"There are a lot of people who say: 'He's going to win 20 Grand Slams'," Simon told Stats Perform.

"It's long a career. People say he has got the freeway ahead of him. Yes, but we do not know what's behind him? 

"When [Roger Federer first arrived, we thought he was going to win a lot, and he did. Breaking [Pete] Sampras' record, we were sure of it.

"But the danger came from behind. First Rafa [Rafael Nadal] then Novak, then Andy [Murray]. And I think it will be the same for Carlos. The danger will come from behind."

Simon, who won 14 career titles and reached a high of number six in the ATP rankings, pointed to the likes of world number four Jannik Sinner and number three Daniil Medvedev, though the latter is seven years Alcaraz's senior.

"There are players aged 16, 17, who are playing extremely well and who may also have a similar career path. In the end, he still has Novak and hyper-stable, hyper-strong players like Daniil on hard court or other players on clay who can really cause him problems," Simon continued.

"Sinner and so on, but he may also have two or three guys behind him who, in two or three years' time, we don't know who they are yet, but they'll be up there like him, and we'll be saying to ourselves: 'Ah well, he never had that period when he was supposedly going to win everything with no competition in front of him'.

"There is never no competition. The other players, even if they are not the calibre of Federer or Nadal, they are very strong. Daniil is very strong, very stable on hard court, so he can beat [Alcaraz].

"Carlos seems to have the upper hand. But no, Daniil finds a solution, comes up with something else and beats him. And that is why it's never a foregone conclusion, and why it's so interesting to follow. Otherwise, we would not even be watching the match."

The Rolex Paris Masters became the first Masters 1000 to broadcast its qualifying matches on Twitch, live on Rivenzi's channel.

An emotional Ons Jabeur announced she will donate some of her WTA Finals prize money to help Palestinian victims of the ongoing conflict in Gaza.

After beating Marketa Vondrousova 6-4 6-3 in a reversal of the Wimbledon final for her first victory at the tournament in Mexico, Tunisian Jabeur broke down in tears during her post-match interview.

“I am very happy with the win but I haven’t been happy lately, to be honest with you,” said Jabeur.

“The situation in the world doesn’t make me happy. It’s very tough seeing children, babies, dying every day. It’s heartbreaking. So I’ve decided to donate part of my prize money to help the Palestinians.

“It’s not a political message, it’s just humanity. I want peace in this world and that’s it.”

Jabeur will need to beat Iga Swiatek in her final group match to have a chance of reaching the semi-finals.

Second seed Swiatek has been in fine form in Cancun, defeating Coco Gauff for the ninth time in 10 meetings on Wednesday night.

The US Open champion double-faulted four times in a row during the second set in a 7-5 6-0 loss, with errors costing her dearly.

The win means Swiatek, who can overtake Aryna Sabalenka to reclaim the world number one spot this week, is the first female player to record 65 or more tour-level wins in back-to-back seasons in nearly two decades.

Swiatek is the only player to record 65 wins in 2023, with Daniil Medvedev and Carlos Alcaraz on 64 and 63 wins respectively.

Four-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek has beaten American Coco Gauff at the WTA Finals in Mexico.

The American world number three felt the pressure from her Polish opponent, double-faulting four times in a row during the second set on Wednesday in Cancun.

The errors cost Gauff dearly as she gifted the upper hand to Swiatek.

Gauff could not mount the comeback as Swiatek secured the win 7-5 6-0 as she hopes to take back the world number one crown from Aryna Sabalenka.

The win means she is the first female player to record 65 or more tour-level wins in back-to-back seasons in nearly two decades.

Swiatek is the only player to record 65 wins in 2023 with Daniil Medvedev and Carlos Alcaraz with 64 and 63 wins respectively.

She will take on Ons Jabeur in her final group match on Friday, Jabeur having beaten Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova 6-4 6-3.

It was the first game between the pair since the Wimbledon final, Jabeur saving six of seven break points in the first set.

Jabeur took the second set after she broke Vondrousova at 3-3 and again after holding serve to set up a crucial match against Swiatek.

Daniil Medvedev denied raising his middle finger to the crowd after being booed during his defeat to Grigor Dimitrov at the Rolex Paris Masters.

The Russian was beaten 6-3, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (2) in the round of 32 and even stopped playing in the second set until the boos stopped inside the Accor Arena, which prompted an argument with umpire Renaud Lichtenstein after he was given an official time violation.

The world number three admitted he did not want to carry on playing but also knew he risked being disqualified from the match if he refused to do so.

The drama started in the second set when, with the scores level at five apiece, the 27-year-old received jeers from the Parisian crowd after throwing his racket while stepping up to serve.

Medvedev gestured to the crowd to be quiet and walked back to his bench in protest and told the umpire he would not play until they stopped. In turn, Medvedev received the time violation for delaying the game.

In the end, Bulgarian Dimitrov battled to a three-set win after he let six match points slip before finally dispatching his opponent on the seventh to advance through to the last 16.

Medvedev received more boos as he walked off the court and appeared to give the middle finger to the crowd, something he later denied.

After the match, he told a press conference: “I just checked my nails, like this, no really it’s nothing more than that. Why would I do that to this beautiful crowd in Paris Bercy?

“I threw the racket, I get booed, normal. I don’t see a problem with that. I go to serve and they applaud or something but I want to serve so they shouldn’t applaud, so I still serve and the referee was talking during this, so Grigor wasn’t ready.

“This happens, but I get booed, I didn’t see why so I didn’t want to play and that’s actually the end of the story.

“I was like okay, until they boo I’m not going to play but the Bercy crowd doesn’t stop to boo and then when I got the code I was like ‘do I really want to get disqualified and finish the match on this note?’ So I just went on to play.”

Jessica Pegula produced an impressive display in the WTA Finals in Cancun, Mexico, as she beat world number one Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets.

Pegula broke her losing streak against the Belarusian having lost their last five meetings and the American has now won her last five games against top 10 players.

Sabalenka made 33 unforced errors, but it still took Pegula seven match points before clinching a 6-4 6-3 win and a place in the semi-finals.

After the match, Pegula said her improvement comes from feeling “more comfortable” playing top players this year.

Sabalenka will now play Elena Rybakina on Thursday night to determine the second qualifier from the group after Rybakina defeated Maria Sakkari 6-0 6-7 (4) 7-6 (2).

Rybakina started with a fury with a dominant first set but Sakkari fought her way back, winning the second set in a tiebreak.

Sakkari had two break point chances in the final set at 4-4, but Rybakina fought back and finished the tiebreak in a dominant fashion, skipping out to a 6-0 lead.

A number of players, including Sabalenka, Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova and Iga Swiatek criticised the conditions of the courts in Cancun.

For the third year in a row, the host of the prestigious tournament – which features the top eight players of the season – was decided less than two months prior to the event.

World number two Carlos Alcaraz crashed out of the Paris Masters at the first hurdle.

The Spaniard had designs on ending his year on the regular tour with victory in the French capital but they were quickly extinguished by world number 45 Roman Safiullin.

The Russian, who came through qualifying, posted a career-best victory, winning 6-3 6-4 in under two hours.

Footage of Alcaraz giving rival Novak Djokovic the run around in practice had gone viral in the last couple of days, but there will be no meeting between the two heavyweights on the main show court in the final Masters event of the season.

A routine night for Alcaraz looked on the cards when he broke Safiullin in just the third game of the night, but he was immediately broken back and the Russian then went on to take control, breaking again at 4-3 and then serving the first set out.

Alcaraz made another early move in the second set leading 3-1, but Safiullin again responded and won five of the next six games to cause a big shock by the Seine.

He said on Amazon Prime Video: “It was tough, since qualies I was not playing at this level but against Carlos you have to lift up the level.

“Carlos’ was not the best performance but I’m still happy I could win because he is number two in the world, former world number one and has two grand slams, it is tough to beat him even if he is not in the best shape.

“Everything against these guys, tactical, physical, mental is very important, to set focused form the beginning.”

Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova became the latest leading name to criticise the WTA after losing her opening match to Iga Swiatek at the WTA Finals.

World number one Aryna Sabalenka said after her first match on Sunday in Mexico that she felt “disrespected” over the condition of the hastily-laid temporary court in Cancun.

Following a 7-6 (3) 6-0 defeat by second seed Swiatek, Vondrousova wrote on Instagram: “My first WTA Finals is not at all what I imagined. We work hard all year to get to the finals and in the end it’s just a disappointment.

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“(The) stadium is not at all ready for the matches and to me it feels like the people from WTA are absolutely not interested in how we who are supposed to play on that court feel. We do not feel that anyone listens to us and is interested in our opinions. Very sad.”

Swiatek added to the criticism, saying in her on-court interview that the surface was “not comfortable” while she also appealed for more fans to attend the matches.

For the third year in a row, the host of the prestigious tournament – which features the top eight players of the season – was only decided less than two months prior to the event.

Vondrousova led Swiatek 5-2 in the opening set but the Pole, who could reclaim top spot in the rankings from Sabalenka this week, won four games in a row and dominated the second set.

Monday’s other match saw US Open champion Coco Gauff need less than an hour to beat Ons Jabeur 6-0 6-1 for her first WTA Finals victory.

On her debut last year the teenager lost all six matches she played in singles and doubles, while she and Jessica Pegula were again beaten in doubles on Sunday.

But Gauff was emphatic from the start against Wimbledon finalist Jabeur, winning the first seven games before an hour-long rain delay.

Jabeur finally got on the board after the restart before the American, who revealed she is no longer working with coach Pere Riba, completed the win in 57 minutes.

“Unfortunately, it wasn’t my decision,” Gauff said of the split from the Spaniard. “But we had to end the partnership. If it was up to me, I would have loved to have him here.

“But things happen. Life happens. So no bad terms on our end. I still think that he was a great guy. And obviously he did amazing things for me personally and also for my game.”

Gauff is still working with renowned American coach Brad Gilbert, who guided her to the title in New York alongside Riba.

World number two Iga Swiatek beat Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova 7-6 6-0 in her opening match at the WTA Finals in Cancun.

Vondrousova, making her debut at the WTA Finals, took an early 2-0 lead in the opening set after breaking Swiatek in the first game.

Swiatek, though, soon wiped out that advantage after forcing home a break chance of her own to level at 2-2.

In humid conditions, both players were feeling the pressure on serve as another untidy background return from the baseline by the Pole allowed Vondrousova to immediately break again.

The Wimbledon champion maintained the pressure to break Swiatek in the seventh game, the Pole this time sending a return into the net.

Following the change of ends, Swiatek made the most of the new balls to prevent Vondrousova serving out the set and then produced a solid hold to reduce the deficit at 5-4.

Vondrousova’s early momentum had gone as Swiatek stepped up her offensive play to claim another break and level the opening set.

Swiatek, who can end the year by regaining the world number one spot, took the first set on a tie break and waltzed through the second in just over half an hour.

Monday’s other match saw US Open champion Coco Gauff need less than an hour to beat Ons Jabeur 6-0 6-1.

Gauff won the first seven games before an hour-long rain delay, Jabeur finally getting on the board after the restart before the American completed the win in 57 minutes

On Sunday, world number one Aryna Sabalenka opened the finals with a straightforward win over Maria Sakkari.

Sabalenka later took to social media to criticise the arrangements for players at the season-ending championships, with Cancun only announced as the host venue less than two months ago.

Swiatek added her criticism to the court – laid on top of a golf course – saying “it’s not comfortable” while Vondrousova described it as “very bad”.

Sabalenka faces Jessica Pegula, who also won her opening group match, on Tuesday night with Sakkari facing Elena Rybakina.

Andy Murray admitted he is not enjoying his tennis after suffering another disappointing defeat to Australian Alex de Minaur in the first round of the Paris Masters.

Murray had lost all five previous matches against the Australian, including three this season with the most recent coming in Beijing where the Briton failed to convert three match points.

The former world number one looked on course to end that run on Monday after recovering from losing the opening set tie-break to lead 5-2 in the decider.

However, Murray failed to win either of his next two service games – despite having a match point in the second – and the world number 13 prevailed 7-6 (5) 4-6 7-5 in just over three hours.

Murray’s temper boiled over during the final set, knocking the drinks bottles and towel off his bench during a change of ends before he smashed his racket off the floor after the last point.

The disappointing run of form has left the 36-year-old two-time Wimbledon champion questioning what else he has to do to get back to winning ways.

“I’m not really enjoying it just now in terms of how I feel on the court and how I’m playing,” Murray told several national newspapers.

“The last five, six months haven’t been that enjoyable, so I need to try and find some of that enjoyment back because playing a match like that there’s not much positivity there.

“When I play a good point, I’m not really getting behind myself and then in the important moments, that will to win and fight that has always been quite a big, big part of my game…”

Another Briton who did not enjoy the match was Katie Boulter – the girlfriend of De Minaur.

The British number one wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: “Had enough Alex and Andy for the rest of my life. No more please and thank you.”

Murray, who is entered for next week’s ATP 250 event in Metz, said he will take some time to consider whether to play for Great Britain in the Davis Cup at the end of November.

He added: “If I want to keep going, I’m going to need a lot of work.

“It’s not just going to be like one or two weeks of training to get me to where I need to get to, it’s going to have to be a lot of work and consistent work to give myself a chance.”

Andy Murray smashed his racquet in frustration after Alex de Minaur produced a stunning fightback in a last-set decider to win another epic contest between the pair 7-6 (5) 4-6 7-5 at the Paris Masters.

Murray had lost all five matches he played against the Australian, including three this season with the most recent coming in Beijing where the Briton failed to convert three match points.

The former world number one, though, looked on course to end that run in the first-round contest on Monday afternoon after recovering from losing the opening set tie-break to level and then forced two breaks to lead 5-2.

However, Murray failed to hold either of his own next two service games as the world number 13 rallied before turning the set around to close out another hard-earned victory.

A first match point went begging in the 10th game when Murray sent a return long and smashed his racquet on the floor after handing De Minaur a break-point opportunity, which he took to level at 5-5.

After De Minaur then held, Murray’s temper boiled over again during the change of ends when he knocked the drinks bottles and towel off his bench.

De Minaur grew with the momentum and was given a match point of his own after the chair umpire over-ruled a call on the baseline, which was shown to be out.

There was to be no reprieve for Murray when he sent a return into the net, which sealed De Minaur’s victory in just over three hours.

Murray – who had not won a match at the Paris Masters since winning the event in 2016 – then again smashed his racquet on the floor before trudging off court on the back of another gut-wrenching defeat.

Dan Evans has withdrawn from next month’s Davis Cup quarter-final against Serbia in Malaga owing to the right calf injury he suffered in the Vienna Open earlier this week.

Evans was named alongside Cameron Norrie, Andy Murray, Jack Draper and Neal Skupski for Great Britain as the final eight nations compete for the 2023 Davis Cup from November 21-26.

However, the British number two has had to pull out after pulling up in the Austrian capital on Tuesday when leading 4-1 in the first set of his opening round encounter against seventh seed Frances Tiafoe.

The 33-year-old, who has been integral to Britain’s run to the last eight after winning important singles and doubles matches, received treatment but was unable to continue.

He said in a statement on his Instagram story: “Unfortunately, as a result of the injury sustained in Vienna, I will not be fit to compete at the Davis Cup finals in a couple of weeks.

“I am extremely disappointed but wish the rest of the GB team all the very best in Malaga.

“I will be working hard with my support team to get back to full fitness as soon as possible.”

Wimbledon’s bold expansion plans have been approved by Merton Council following a lengthy planning committee meeting which concluded just after midnight.

A 524-page document had already been published by the council which concluded planning permission should be granted, subject to conditions, because of the substantial public benefits of the proposal outweighing harm to the significance of heritage assets.

The All England Club bought the lease of the neighbouring Wimbledon Park Golf Club for a reported £65million in 2018.

Across the site – which also includes Wimbledon Park Lake and a section of Church Road – the AELTC was seeking the go-ahead to build 38 new courts, including a third show court with a capacity of 8,000 seats and retractable roof, as well as designated north and south player hubs while also providing publicly-accessible parkland.

Under the proposals, originally submitted in 2021, the grounds will almost triple in size and allow Wimbledon to host the qualifying tournaments in SW19, rather than their current home a couple of miles away in Roehampton.

Completion is projected for 2030, which will see an increase in the capacity of the championships from 42,000 to 50,000 and also deliver “benefits relating to heritage open space, recreation and community”.

The ambitious scheme, though, has not gone down well with some local residents.

Around 2,000 trees are expected to be removed across some 75 acres of Metropolitan Open Land, which is intended to be protected as an area of landscape, recreation, nature conservation or scientific interest.

A petition to ‘Save Wimbledon Park’ showed more than 13,000 signatures, and there were protests from opposition groups outside the Development and Planning Applications Committee meeting at Merton Civic Centre.

Chaired by Labour and Co-operative Party counsellor Aidan Mundy, the committee heard a number of arguments on both sides – including from the All England Club, local residents, council officers and Wimbledon MP Stephen Hammond – which took in environmental, social and economic considerations during a lengthy meeting which lasted for almost five hours.

A final vote eventually came at just after midnight, which saw the recommendation for planning permission to be granted passed by six votes to four.

Following the announcement, someone shouted a protest, apparently from the public seats, with counsellor Mundy asking the person to leave the room and calling for security before the meeting was adjourned.

The proposals will now move on to the next stage of the planning process, with London Mayor Sadiq Khan required to formally accept or reject the decision due to the development taking place on Metropolitan Open Land.

As the northernmost part of Wimbledon Park is within the borough of Wandsworth, the scheme must also be approved by its planning committee.

There is also the possibility of judicial review as a potential obstacle for the development proceeding.

Local residents who oppose the decision could attempt to challenge the lawfulness of the way it was made, on the grounds of illegality, procedural unfairness or irrationality.

A spokesperson for the London Borough of Merton said: “After considering the officer’s report, relevant submissions, and the relevant planning framework, the independent planning committee, made up of councillors from all parties, voted to approve the application made by the All England Lawn Tennis Ground (AELTG) for expansion of its site at Wimbledon.

“There are further stages in the planning process and the land remains subject to covenants contained in the transfer of 1993 from the Council to AELTG.

“Until these covenants are properly addressed by AELTG they operate to restrict the use and development of the land as proposed in the planning application.”

News of the vote was met with disappointment by the Wimbledon Park Residents’ Association (WPRA).

“We are not at all surprised by the outcome of the vote. Most of the inconsistencies in the report were glossed over,” WPRA chair Iain Simpson said.

“Merton did not even bring their own experts into the hearing, and instead relied on the applicant to advise the councillors who were asking the questions. In addition their pronouncements on the environment still ignored their own expert advice where it didn’t suit them.

“On all that was said about the stadium and the buildings, these are still in outline – and outline designs on protected land contravene their own planning regulations. They therefore cannot be discussed in any meaningful way.

“This is just a stage in what will be a long process for which Save Wimbledon Park is well prepared.”

Wimbledon’s bold expansion plans will be considered by Merton Council at a committee meeting on Thursday.

The All England Club’s grounds will almost triple in size if the ambitious scheme is given the green light.

Wimbledon bought the lease of the neighbouring Wimbledon Park Golf Club for a reported £65million in 2018.

It plans to use the land to build 38 new courts, including a third show court with a capacity of 8,000 seats.

Wimbledon will then be able to hold the qualifying tournaments at the grounds, rather than their current home a couple of miles away in Roehampton.

In outlining its plans, the All England Club said: “The AELTC seeks continually to ensure that the Championships, proudly a local and national asset, remains a world-leading sporting event.

“Bringing the qualifying event on site in order to improve it to be worthy of our world-class player field, enhancing practice and junior event facilities and providing a third ‘show court’ are all measures aimed at ensuring Wimbledon remains the world’s premier tennis tournament, with all the associated substantial social and economic benefits that the event brings, locally and nationally.”

The plans were originally submitted in 2021 and Wimbledon chiefs anticipate that the new courts, if they get the go-ahead, will be ready for use in 2030.

However, the scheme has not gone down well with some local residents, and a petition to ‘Save Wimbledon Park’ currently has more than 13,000 signatures.

Former world number one Simona Halep has filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport against her four-year ban from competition for breaking anti-doping rules.

The 2019 Wimbledon singles champion was suspended by an International Tennis Integrity Agency tribunal in September, having been provisionally suspended in October 2022 after returning a positive test for the banned substance Roxadustat.

The tribunal ruled that the 32-year-old Romanian had committed intentional anti-doping run violations with reference to two charges, but she has now lodged an appeal with CAS for that finding to be overturned.

If the ban is upheld it means she will not be free to compete again until October 2026, by which time she will be 35 years old.

In a statement issued at the time of the ban, Halep said she had “never knowingly or intentionally used any prohibited substance.”

CAS has not given a timeframe for the appeal to be considered, but noted that she would be free to appeal the court’s decision via the Swiss Federal Tribunal if it is unfavourable.