Elena Rybakina books Iga Swiatek final in Doha, defeats Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in semis

Elena Rybakina continued her near-perfect start to 2024, winning her 15th match to reach her third final of the season at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open, holding off a late surge to clinch a 6-2, 6-4 win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in 89 minutes on Center Court.

Aside from a surprising second-round exit from the Australian Open, Rybakina has looked like the player to beat with titles at the Brisbane International and the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open. She carries an eight-match winning streak from the latter and into the championship match against world No. 1 Iga Swiatek, who received a walkover in her semifinal against Karolina Pliskova.

The No. 3 seed dropped just one set en route to her meeting with a resurgent Pavlyuchenkova, who was contesting her first hard-court WTA 1000 semifinal since the 2010 Cincinnati Open. After missing most of 2022 due to a knee injury, the 2021 Roland Garros runner-up showed flashes of her top from last spring in Paris, where she reached the quarterfinals with a protected ranking.

Now projected to return to the Top 30 after this week, Pavlyuchenkova looked impressive through wins over No. 11 seed Daria Kasatkina and reigning Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova before defeating American Danielle Collins in the quarters.

Rybakina, however, proved an entirely different opponent with her relentless hitting and high-octane serve, both of which helped her roll through the opening set with two breaks of serve and 12 winners to seven.

The Russian-born Kazakh stayed the course early in the second, breaking serve on a missed backhand from Pavlyuchenkova. She saved six break points in a marathon fourth game, holding with a well-struck backhand and riding the momentum into an insurance break that put her on the brink of the final.

Serving for the match, Rybakina was forced to fend off a late fight-back from Pavlyuchenkova, who earned her first break of the evening and clawed to within a point of evening the set. Rybakina gamely recovered from break point down, shaking off a well-saved match point from Pavlyuchenkova to end the intriguing clash with her third ace.

All eyes will be on the final between Rybakina and Swiatek, with Rybakina having won their last three matches—including all three in 2023. Their two hard-court matches both went Rybakina's way in straight sets: one at the Australian Open and the other at the BNP Paribas Open, where Rybakina went on to win the title. Swiatek has enjoyed a stabilizing week in Doha after falling in the third round of the Melbourne against Linda Noskova, easing into the final without dropping a set as she aims to win the title here for a third straight year.

Pliskova, who had won her last nine matches and arrived in Doha fresh off a title run in Cluj Napoca, addressed her withdrawal on social media Friday:

"Unfortunately my body couldn't compete today in semifinals.." she wrote. "The schedule of last two weeks was too dificult to recover from all these tough matches. I have an MRI scan tomorrow. Hope to be back on court soon Thank you for all the support I got last weeks." !✌️!🫰!♥️