INDIAN WELLS, Calif. -- Two rookies opened this year’s WTA Finals on Sunday, and for all that was new about the occasion, there was little left for them to learn about each other. Linda Noskova, the Wimbledon champion, handled Marta Kostyuk 6-2, 6-4 in the first match of Group 1.

Kostyuk, ranked No. 10, had come to Indian Wells as an alternate and learned only on Saturday that she would play, after Elena Rybakina, the defending champion and world No. 1, withdrew with a viral illness.

The short notice showed early. Kostyuk put a forehand into the net on the first point of the match and sent another wide on break point, which gave Noskova an early break. She would go on to take the opening set 6-2 in 31 minutes.

Kostyuk found more footing in the second set. Noskova broke to lead 4-2, Kostyuk held to stay within a game, and Noskova answered with a hold of her own to go ahead 5-3 before pulling out the win.

After a season-long race, the world's top players converge in the California desert with the WTA's biggest title still to be won.

Neither player had much to figure out about the other. They had played three times this season before Sunday. Kostyuk won the first meeting, and Noskova won the next two, in the Wimbledon semifinals and the US Open fourth round, which made this her third straight win over Kostyuk.

For Noskova, the result capped a career-best season. She was ranked No. 112 when the BNP Paribas Open was played here in March. Now 21 and ranked No. 8, she reached the Top 10 in June, won Wimbledon in July and clinched the Billie Jean King Cup for Czechia in September.