Mirra Andreeva of Russia will meet Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine in the Madrid Open final after they pulled out semifinal victories Thursday.
Andreeva, the ninth seed, fought past No. 30 seed Hailey Baptiste 6-4, 7-6 (8). No. 26 seed Kostyuk needed three sets to vanquish Austria’s Anastasia Potapova 6-2, 1-6, 6-1.
In winning the semifinal showdown one day after her 19th birthday, Andreeva became the first teenager to reach three WTA 1000 finals since the format was introduced in 2009. She rose the rankings last season when she won the WTA 1000 titles at Dubai and Indian Wells back-to-back.
Andreeva had a difficult challenger in Baptiste, who upset World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in the quarterfinals. Baptiste saved six match points against Sabalenka and saved two more on Friday against Andreeva, one of them during the second-set tiebreaker.
First, Andreeva clawed out of a 4-0 hole by winning the next four points in a row. She saved three set points for Baptiste and took an 8-7 lead. Baptiste saved that one with an ace before Andreeva finished the job.
“After (the tiebreaker) was 4-0, I just really tried to win one point. And then after one point I said to myself, ‘OK, let’s win another one,'” Andreeva said. “I just tried to play point by point, and I guess that’s how I came back in the tiebreak as well.”
Andreeva won a stellar 35 of 43 first-service points (81.4%) and only faced a break point once.
Kostyuk, meanwhile, advanced to her first career WTA 1000 final and remained unbeaten on clay to start the season. Kostyuk won the Open Rouen Metropole on the surface earlier this month in France.
Kostyuk saved 8 of 12 break points on her serve while converting 6 of 13 opportunities to break Potapova’s serve. She bounced back from a second-set drubbing to win the first four games of the third set and regain control.
Andreeva may have the better seed and more experience at the 1000 level, but she said she doesn’t consider herself the favorite in the final.
“I’ve learned not to care about the rankings of my opponent or the last name of my opponent as well,” Andreeva said. “I’m just going to try to go on court and do the things that I have to do to really focus on the game plan that we create with (coach Conchita Martinez), and that’s the only thing I can control.”
–Field Level Media
