Aryna Sabalenka will be opening a packet of sweets, or maybe a burger, tonight in celebration of winning the WTA Elite Trophy.
Sabalenka won the title in Zhuhai for the first time, beating top seed Kiki Bertens 6-4 6-2 in an entertaining final.
Sabalenka earned the crucial break in the final game of the first set following a lengthy delay due to movement in the crowd, and the Belarusian raced through the second set to get her hands on the trophy.
But with the doubles tournament at the WTA Finals in Shenzhen to come, starting on Monday, Sabalenka will not be going too wild when it comes to her celebrations.
When asked how she plans to celebrate, the No 4 seed in Zhuhai said: “I don’t know, maybe like always take some sweets over there, but I can’t, because I play tomorrow.
“But, I don’t know, I’m just happy and it’s, I don’t need to celebrate, I’m happy inside so that’s more important. But maybe I’ll eat something, something like sweets or pizza or burger, I don’t know.”
Sabalenka has been strong in China with each of her three tournament wins this season coming in the Asian country.
She added: “For the next season I would like to win somewhere else instead of China, but also I would like to keep winning in China.
“But I’m just really happy with this title and with the finish of my singles season, it’s really impressive.”
Bertens will also head to Shenzhen as she is the first reserve for the WTA Finals, which sees the top eight in the world this year go head to head. But the Dutchwoman is happy with how her 2019 has gone.
She said: “I think it was a great year. Of course, with a win today it was maybe even better.
“But I gave everything this year, so I have no regrets, so I can only be proud of myself. Proud that I’m still in the Top-10 my second year in a row.
“So I think only positive things and of course there are always things we can work on and that’s what we’re going to do again, but first rest.”
