Maria Sakkari couldn’t help but smile a wide smile after taking a pair of tiebreakers to edge Jessica Pegula across more than two hours of big-hitting baseline action in front of a sparse crowd Monday as round-robin singles play began at the WTA Finals in Fort Worth, Texas.

Sure, the No.5-ranked Sakkari was excited about the 7-6 (6), 7-6 (4) victory on a temporary indoor hard court at Dickies Arena against No. 3 Pegula in the season-ending tournament just eight days after losing to the American in the final of another event.

For Sakkari, who will face Aryna Sabalenka next, this was of more importance: She got to hang out with her parents and grandmother — the first time in 41/2 years her mom’s mom had been in the stands to see the 27-year-old from Greece compete.

“She was like, ‘Wow. That was a very high-level match.’ She knows tennis really well, because my grandfather was a coach, then my mom was a player, so she traveled with her on the tour. It’s not like she’s watching her first tennis match ever,” a beaming Sakkari said.

“It’s very nice just to have her around. To be with her. To spend my time a little bit with her and my parents. It’s nice, sometimes, to (be with) people that you love and people that are very close to you and were (there) since the beginning.”

Grandma hadn’t been on hand for one of Sakkari’s matches since she lost to Kiki Bertens in the first round of the Madrid Open in May 2018.

“Nice to have here, for sure — and see me winning,” Sakkari said.

Later on Day 1, Sabalenka came back to beat two-time Grand Slam runner-up Ons Jabeur 3-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5 after being two points from defeat.

Jabeur led 5-3 in the tiebreaker, but Sabalenka grabbed the next four points in a row to force a third set.

Thai teen Thitikul No. 1 women’s golfer

Thai teenager Atthaya Thitikul reached No. 1 in the women’s world ranking, the 16th player and second-youngest to get to the top since the ranking began in 2006.

Thitikul had a chance to reach No. 1 by winning any of her last three tournaments on the LPGA Tour. Instead, the 19-year-old replaced Jin Young Ko of South Korea on a week in which she didn’t play.

Thitikul heads to the Toto Japan Classic to make her debut at No. 1.

“It is very special to get to the top but it is much harder to retain,” Thitikul said.

Her first full year on the LPGA Tour has been more consistent than superb. Thitikul has won twice — in California a week before the first major and in Arkansas — to go along with 12 other finishes in the top 10.

She ended last year at No. 19 in the world after a two-win season on the Ladies European Tour and took advantage of strong play and injuries at the top.

Nelly Korda, who started the year at No. 1, had surgery for a blood clot in her left arm and wound up missing four months.

Ko began her season by winning the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore and had been No. 1 since the end of January. But she is dealing with an injury in her left wrist that kept her out for two months, and then she withdrew in her return at the BMW Ladies Championship in South Korea.

That cleared the way for Thitikul, who has finished in the top 10 her last five starts.

Thitikul is the fourth player to reach No. 1 without having won a major, joining Lydia Ko in 2015, Ai Miyazato in 2010 and Lorena Ochoa.

Lydia Ko remains the youngest to be No. 1, getting there for the first time at age 17.

Thitikul in 2017 became the youngest player to win a professional golf tournament at the Ladies European Thailand Championship when she was 14 years, 4 months. That was among her four LET victories.

She joins Sung Hyun Park as the only players to reach No. 1 during their rookie season on the LPGA Tour. Park had won 10 times on the Korea LPGA before coming to America.

Ukrainians want Iran out of World Cup

The Ukrainian soccer federation urged FIFA to remove Iran from the World Cup next month, alleging human rights violations and supplying the Russian military with weapons.

The call was made three weeks before Iran is due to face England in the first Group B game in Qatar. The group also includes the United States and Wales.

• Thousands of goals scored in Danish soccer in November will raise money for migrant workers who helped build World Cup projects in Qatar, Denmark’s soccer federation said.

It is the latest show of support for workers in Qatar from Denmark, whose national team will wear specially toned-down World Cup jerseys including a black option to honor those who died in the past decade.

Every goal scored in Denmark in November — from grass roots games to the top-tier Superliga — will earn 10 kroner (about $1.30) donated by soccer authorities.

The Danish federation said there were 55,000 goals in November 2021. An equivalent number this year would raise about $73,000.

The money will go to the BWI (International Federation of Building and Wood Workers) trades union to target construction workers in Qatar.

Qatar has been fiercely criticized for the physical and contractual conditions of workers, mostly from south Asia, needed to build stadiums, metro lines, roads and hotels needed for the month-long tournament that starts Nov. 20.

The exact number of migrant workers who have died or were injured working in often extreme heat on projects since FIFA picked Qatar as World Cup host in December 2010 is unclear. Definitive data has been hard to verify or not published by authorities.

• France midfielder Paul Pogba will miss the World Cup due to ongoing knee problems.