No. 3 seed Elena Rybakina came to work today determined to get the job done and she successfully completed her task after ousting second-seeded Jasmine Paolini 6-3 6-2 to reach the final at the WTA 500 tournament in Ningbo.
Heading into the match, Paolini had been the seventh-ranked player in the Live WTA Race to Riyadh while Rybakina sat at No. 9 with 325 fewer points than the Italian. It is not hard to understand that the 2022 Wimbledon champion was in a must-win situation and simply had to win today to keep her chances of qualifying for the WTA Finals.
Early in the match, Rybakina saved two break points across two separate games before earning the lone break of the first set in the eighth game. The Kazakh was 1-2 down through the opening three games of the second set before winning the next five games and completing the job in straight sets.
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During the match, Rybakina fired 10 aces and 32 winners. In the Live WTA Race to Riyadh, she now has 4,130 points - Paolini remains at No. 7 with 4,325 points while Mirra Andreeva is the eighth-ranked player with 4,320 points.
In the Ningbo final, the Kazakh tennis star will play against either No. 4 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova or seventh-seeded Diana Shnaider.
Rybakina reflects on beating Paolini
I knew the match would be very tough. Jasmine played really well this season. Shes a really tough opponent. I knew Id need to bring my best. Im happy I stayed focused til the end and I won it in straight sets," the Kazakh said in her on-court interview.
Rybakina is playing in Ningbo for the first time this week and she is now a win away from winning the main glory in her debut.
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Im very excited. Ill try to bring my best. Lets see whats gonna happen. Thanks again for coming," the No. 3 seed said of her upcoming Ningbo final.
