In full control 💪 Elena Rybakina advances into her third final of the season after defeating Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. #QatarTotalEnergiesOpen
Elena Rybakina sets up blockbuster Qatar Open final with Iga Swiatek after easing past Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
WTAFriday, 16 February 2024 at 16:36
Elena Rybakina will face Iga Swiatek in a blockbuster final at the 2024 Qatar Open after taking down Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova who continues her resurgence in straight sets 6-2, 6-4.
It is back-to-back finals for the Kazakh who will aim to seal a third title of the year after winning in Brisbane and Abu Dhabi albeit she will be slightly disadvantaged compared to her opponent having play all but one day in the last ten and Swiatek got a bye straight through.
This after Karolina Pliskova had to withdraw on Friday afternoon due to a lower back injury likely due to the rigours of playing Cluj also last week. But no such problems for Rybakina who won in just over an hour and a half.
The first set in particular was Rybakina at her aggressive power hitting best as she sealed it 6-2. After a close start albeit with both teeing off and easing through their serves, Rybakina flipped the script and went 3-2 up before consolidating serve with three games in a row in a rampant end to the set.
She powered past Pavlyuchenkova and this was while having four set points before finally sealing the deal and surviving a break point that likely could've sent the set back towards Pavlyuchenkova's favour. The second was a bit more closer with Rybakina holding at 3-1 despite having six break points saved and Pavlyuchenkova not claiming those proved to be fatal as Rybakina went 5-1 up.
But the Russian former Roland Garros finalist found her way back in when it looked like it was going to be an easy win breaking to go 5-3 down and holding at 5-4. But on a second match point and again after surviving a break, it was Rybakina's time as she claimed the win in straight sets.
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