Teenager Mirra Andreeva toppled another seed at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, upsetting Elena Rybakina on Friday to become the youngest player to reach the final of a WTA 1000 tournament.
The Russian 17-year-old fought back from 1-3 down in the deciding set to beat sixth-seeded Rybakina 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 and move into the first WTA 1000 final of her career.
Andreeva is the youngest player to beat multiple Grand Slam champions at a tournament of this level. She has ousted Iga Swiatek, Marketa Vondrousova, and now Rybakina en route to the final. She is the youngest player to reach a WTA 1000 final since the format's inception in 2009.
She will face Clara Tauson in Saturday’s final after the Danish world number 38 moved past Karolina Muchova 6-4, 6-7, 6-3 in just under three hours.
“Honestly, it's crazy because at first I was not very positive before coming to Dubai. I was like, ‘Okay, well, I'm just going to play’,” said Andreeva.
“As always, when you don't think about how you're going to play, you just play your best tennis. In the end, it's one of your best tournaments.”
Tauson, 22, is enjoying a banner week that saw her knock out world number one Aryna Sabalenka. She is now through to the biggest final of her career, and fifth overall.
Tauson has collected a tour-leading 15 victories so far this season, one more than Swiatek and Australian Open champion Madison Keys, who each have 14.
“Muchova is such a great player. I don’t know what to say, I don’t know how I won today. I tried to keep my cool and play some good tennis,” said Tauson, who was on the receiving end of a stunning tweener lob winner struck by Muchova midway through the deciding set.
In the first semi-final of the day, a punishing backhand return from Andreeva earned her the first break of the match in game five and despite Rybakina's immediate response, the young Russian got back in front and closed out the opening set on the 46-minute mark.
Having already saved six match points in her win over Paula Badosa in the round of 16, Rybakina looked ready to put up a fight against Andreeva and the second set was a tight affair.
The pair remained neck and neck until Rybakina found an opening when Andreeva double-faulted to face two set points at 4-5. Andreeva bounced the ball off the ground in frustration and received a code violation warning for ball abuse.
Moments later, Rybakina took the match into a decider on a long defensive forehand from her opponent, as Andreeva dropped her first set of the tournament.
Rybakina made the first move in the third, breaking for a 3-1 advantage but Andreeva reacted and swept the next five games to wrap up the win in two hours and 15 minutes.
Andreeva will rise to a career-high number 11 in the world by virtue of reaching the final and could become the first 17-year-old to break the top 10 since Nicole Vaidisova achieved that feat in 2007 if she lifts the trophy on Saturday.
She made her tour debut less than two years ago but has quickly positioned herself as a star in the making with a great deal of pressure on her shoulders.
“Now I have some kind of pressure that people are expecting some things from me. People are saying, ‘She's going to be number one, she's going to win the slams. She's going to be great’,” explained Andreeva.
She says she’s been working with her psychologist to adopt the right mentality when dealing with such pressure.
“It's easier for me to think these people are saying this because probably they are afraid of the way I play,” added Andreeva.
“It helps me to go on the court with kind of anger, not to prove everyone that I really can do it, but to prove myself that I'm strong enough to handle the pressure and to really win these high-quality matches.”
On her part, Rybakina confessed she ran out a steam against Andreeva but is feeling positive at the end of her Middle East swing that saw her make semi-finals in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and quarter-finals in Doha.
“Today was a really difficult match. Of course not the result I wanted, but Mirra she played really well. She defends very good every point,” said Rybakina.
“I needed some extra energy today, which I didn’t have. I was a bit fatigued from all the matches I played before. But I had my chances in the first set. In the third set I was up. I didn’t take them.
“But I think overall every match I play it’s better. Also physically, injury-wise, how I feel; I had some problems with the back in the beginning of the year, even the previous few tournaments I still felt it. Now it’s better, even with these long matches. I’m looking forward to the US tournaments.
“We’ll take some days off and try to improve physically, I think that’s the main goal for the next week.”
