Elena Rybakina punched her ticket to the WTA Finals last four with an impressive 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 victory over second-seeded Iga Swiatek in round-robin play in Riyadh on Monday.

After cruising past Amanda Anisimova in her opener on Saturday, Rybakina claimed her second win of the week to guarantee herself the top spot in the Serena Williams Group.

Also on Monday, Anisimova rallied back from a set and a break down to triumph 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in her all-American battle with seventh-seeded Madison Keys, who has been eliminated from the competition.

"Madi was playing so well, it was quite a battle out there," said the fourth-seeded Anisimova.

"I'm happy I turned things around in the second set and kind of turned the frown upside down. It was an exciting match and it was nice to have a little bit of a fight out there," she added.

Rybakina was the last of the eight singles players to qualify for this season's WTA Finals, and she did so by clinching the title in Ningbo and reaching the semi-finals in Tokyo in the last two weeks of qualifying tournaments of the regular season.

She has now won each of the last eight matches she has played.

"I've been playing really well the last few weeks. I was improving each match and of course the results were following after," said the 2022 Wimbledon champion.

"It's a great opportunity to play here against the top players. I'm really excited about the next matches and hopefully I can bring the same intensity and the same game."

Rybakina went into the clash having lost all four of her previous meetings with Swiatek in 2025, and it looked like she might suffer a fifth straight defeat to the Pole when she dropped the opening set in 35 minutes. (AFP)