Elena Rybakina will attempt to deny Iga Swiatek a third successive Qatar Open thanks to a straight-sets win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in Friday's semi-final.
The former Wimbledon champion triumphed 6-2 6-4 to set up a mouthwatering encounter with Swiatek, who received a walkover win over Karolina Pliskova in her last-four encounter as the Czech pulled out injured.
Rybakina had come out on the losing side of her first-ever meeting with Pavlyuchenkova at the 2021 French Open - suffering quarter-final heartbreak on a third-set tie-breaker - but she made light work of the Russian this time around.
Despite opening with a pair of straightforward holds, Pavlyuchenkova soon had no answer to Rybakina's might as the 24-year-old won five games on the spin in a dominant opening set, in which she only faced one break point.
Rybakina broke Pavlyuchenkova's serve straight away in the second set but was forced to weather a storm from the Russian in a mammoth fourth game, where the Russian fatally squandered six break points herself.
Rybakina took full advantage by immediately earning the double break for a 5-1 lead, although Pavlyuchenkova still had a flicker of fight left in her and broke back when the Kazakhstani was serving for the match.
The Russian was one point away from remarkably getting the second set back on serve in the 10th game, but Rybakina beat away that break point and finished the job on her third ace of the afternoon, thus reaching WTA 1000 final number four.
Earlier in the day, Pliskova announced her withdrawal from her semi-final with Swiatek due to a back injury, sending the Pole through to her third straight Qatar Open final. body check tags ::
