Fresh off becoming the youngest semi-finalist at the Dubai Tennis Championships, Mirra Andreeva bids for a maiden WTA 1000 final berth at the expense of sixth seed Elena Rybakina in Friday's contest.
The eight-time tour champion is back in the last four at the Dubai event for the first time since reaching the 2020 final, and she seeks to outwit her teenage opponent to partake in Saturday's championship match.
Match preview
If Rybakina ends up clinching the title in Dubai, she would look back fondly at her third-round success over Paula Badosa as the defining moment.
The eight-time WTA tour winner triumphed in the two-hour 49-minute tussle that saw the 2023 Wimbledon champion save a season-high six match points to progress to Thursday's quarter-final, where she reeled off a tournament-high 17 aces against Sofia Kenin to seal a 6-2, 7-6(2) triumph in one hour and 25 minutes.
Rybakina's booming serve is her primary weapon, and she aims to maximise it against an in-form Andreeva, who already overcame Iga Swiatek for a fifth top-five success in the first quarter-final.
By defeating Kenin, the 25-year-old improved to 13-4 for the season and is now 12-2 in Dubai, with her last defeat at the event a three-set second-round defeat by Ons Jabeur in 2021.
Having withdrawn before facing Coco Gauff in the third round two years back and suffering a repeat that forced her out before playing Jasmine Paolini in the quarter-final 12 months ago, Rybakina has avoided relapses of physical issues this time, and she aims to make the most of being the highest-ranked seed remaining to advance to Saturday's final.
On the other side of the net is Andreeva, who reeled off five straight games in the second set to stun her Polish opponent in straight sets.
The teenager, up a set, was 3-1 down in the second but roared back to avoid a repeat of her first meeting with the 22-time tour champion in Cincinnati last year when the five-time Grand Slam champion overturned a disadvantage to win sets two and three in the quarter-final in Cincy.
The upshot of extending Swiatek's wait for a 23rd title and first since last year's French Open crown sees Andreeva become the youngest semi-finalist since the tournament's inception in 2001 (17 years and 297 days), and she bids for consecutive top-10 wins by defeating Rybakina.
While that will be easier said than done, the 17-year-old, who has lost serve just five times all week and has yet to drop a set, will back herself for a maiden WTA 1000 final at the Middle East tournament.
The Russian player has executed competently on return at the second 1000 tournament this year, highlighted by converting six of seven break points against Elina Avanesyan in round one, six of 12 in rounds two and three, beating Marketa Vondrousova and Peyton Stearns, before punishing the second seed four times from eight opportunities in the quarters.
That underscores the teenager's competence and killer instinct, which she aims to use to her advantage against the big-serving Rybakina.
Tournament so far
Elena Rybakina:
First round: Bye
Second round: vs. Moyuka Uchijima 6-3 6-2
Third round: vs. Paula Badosa 4-6 7-6[8] 7-6[2]
Quarter-final: vs. Sofia Kenin 6-2 7-6[2]
Mirra Andreeva:
First round: vs. Elina Avanesyan 6-2 6-1
Second round: vs. Marketa Vondrousova 7-5 6-0
Third round: vs. Peyton Stearns 6-1 6-1
Quarter-final: vs. Iga Swiatek 6-3 6-3
Head To Head
Beijing (2023) - Round of 16: Rybakina 2-6 6-4 6-1
Rybakina needed to overcome a first-set false start to force a decider before overpowering Andreeva in the pair's only meeting on the WTA Tour in Beijing two years back against the then-16-year-old.
Despite a four-match losing run in semi-finals for the more experienced player, most recently exiting to Belinda Bencic in Abu Dhabi earlier this month, the Kazakhstani player holds a 6-3 record in WTA 1000 semis, twice falling to Liudmila Samsonova in Montreal and Beijing two years ago and Aryna Sabalenka in Madrid in 2024.
Making her 1000 semi-final debut, Andreeva is 2-2 in career last-four encounters on the women's tour, most recently losing in straight sets to Sabalenka in Brisbane this season.
Having ended a four-match losing run to top-10 players with Thursday's win over Swiatek, the teenager seeks consecutive triumphs over the elite group for the third time in her career after beating Jabeur and Vondrousova at the Aussie Open and Madrid in 2024 and getting the better of Sabalenka and Paolini at Roland Garros and Cincinnati last season.
We say: Rybakina to win in three sets
The two highest-ranked players left in Dubai tussle in the first semi-final on Friday, with Andreeva bidding to reach a first WTA 1000 final.
Both players have served and returned well this week, adding to the closeness of this match-up.
We back Rybakina to edge the teenager in three tight sets to record a third consecutive semi-final win at hard-court 1000 events and advance to her first championship match at such tournaments since reaching the Miami decider last season.
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