Mirra Andreeva became the youngest woman to reach a WTA 1000 final on Friday with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 victory against No. 6 seed Elena Rybakina at the Dubai Tennis Championships.
The 17-year-old Russian, seeded 12th, will face unseeded Clara Tauson of Denmark on Saturday as she seeks her second WTA Tour title.
Andreeva is the third teenager to reach a WTA 1000 final since the format was adopted in 2009, joining 2021 Rome winner Iga Swiatek and 2023 Cincinnati champion Coco Gauff.
Her victory against Rybakina, following wins this week against Swiatek and Marketa Vondrousova, also made her the youngest player to beat three Grand Slam winners in the same event since 17-year-old Maria Sharapova at the 2004 WTA Finals in Los Angeles.
Andreeva’s remarkable run followed a disappointing second-round setback at Doha last week to Rebecca Sramkova.
“Honestly, after playing in Doha and losing tough second round … I just felt a bit down,” she said. “Not depressed. I was, ‘Well, maybe now this time I’m not playing my best tennis, so OK, it’s fine.’ Last year I didn’t play so good on these courts in Dubai. I was like, ‘Well, OK, whatever. I’m just going to play. We’re going to see.’
“In the end when you don’t think about what’s going to happen, it always ends up being one of the best tournaments of your career. I don’t know if it’s a paradox or something, but it’s just like this.”
During her 2-hour and 16-minute semifinal Friday against Kazakhstan’s Rybakina, Andreeva overcame eight double faults by saving 10 of 13 break points.
After Rybakina built a 3-1 lead in the decisive set, Andreeva broke her opponent’s serve three consecutive times and swept their last five games.
“In the end I just kept believing in myself,” Andreeva said. “I was like, ‘Well, I won the first set, I was right there with her in the second, didn’t go my way, so I’m just going to keep playing my game. I’m just going to keep putting the ball in, run, fight, do whatever I can.’ In the end it worked somehow.”
Tauson needed 2 hours and 52 minutes to complete a 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-3 win over 14th-seeded Czech Karolina Muchova.
Tauson, who knocked off World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the quarterfinals, saved seven of nine break points and fired nine aces against Muchova. Tauson, 22, scored a critical service break in the eighth game of the final set.
Tauson is looking for her fourth career WTA title and her first above the WTA 250 level. She won the Auckland Open last month. She has never faced Andreeva.
–Field Level Media
