Number 6 seed Elena Rybakina beat 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin 6-2 7-6 (7-4) after 1 hour and 25 minutes to reach the semifinals at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships for the first time since 2020.
Rybakina has improved her head-to-head record to 3-0 against Kenin. The Kazakh player broke serve in the sixth and eighth games to close out the first set 6-2. The 2022 Wimbledon champion champion earned a break in the fourth game of the second set to build up a 6-2 3-1 lead. She had to hold off a come-back from Kenin, who broke straight back in the fifth game and held serve at 30 to draw level to 3-3. Both players held on their next service games en route to the tie-break. Rybakina earned two mini-breaks to win the tie-break 7-2.
Rybakina hit 45 winners, including 17 aces.
Rybakina set up a semifinal clash against Mirra Andreeva, who beat world number 2 Iga Swiatek 6-3 6-3. She will play the WTA WTA 1000 main-draw match of her career. Rybakina beat Andreeva 2-6 6-4 6-1 in their only head-to-head match at the China Open in 2023.
Rybakina has reached the 30th WTA Tour semifinal of her career. She has become the fourth player to achieve as many semifinals appearances since 2019, joining Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka and Maria Sakkari.
“I started the match really well, but in the second set I lost a little bit of concentration. My serve did not go well, and Sofia is a great player. The matches against her are always difficult, but in the end, I found my game and I am really happy that I managed to win in two sets”, said Rybakina.
