Ningbo Open Round-Up: Elena Rybakina and Jasmine Paolini continue to make Mirra Andreeva sweat in WTA Race

Elena Rybakina didn't find it easy to see off Dayana Yastremska surviving a late wobble to quell the Ukrainian and keep her WTA Race hopes alive as well as move into the Ningbo Open Quarter-Finals.

Rybakina completed a 6-4, 6-7, 6-3 win in nearly three hours of play to reach the Ningbo Open quarter-finals. Yastremska opened up a 4-2 lead early however the third seed responded swiftly and took the next four games to overturn the deficit and sealed the first set.

After winning the first set, Rybakina was twice up by a break in the second set but twice allowed Yastremska back to ultimately force a tie-break. The 2022 Wimbledon champion had a great opportunity to get it done in two sets after earning match points at 6-4. But her focus collapsed and Yastremska won the second set to force a decider.

This meant that Rybakina was on court a lot longer than she likely expected to be when she was leading in that second set. She claimed a break in the sixth game and then held onto her serve for the rest of the match. For a place in the semi-final she will face off against Ajla Tomljanovic against whom she has a 3-0 Head-to-Head record. It is the Aussie ace's best week in some time who has often been injured or out of form but is showing great form towards the end of the year.

Rybakina though will hope to reach at least the final. She is battling to seal one of two last spots for the WTA Finals. She is currently ninth on 3,913 ranking points. She could gain maximum 500 points. Mirra Andreeva gave her and Jasmine Paolini a chance this week with the Russian losing opening round to Lin Zhu when it looked likely that she was sail away with the spot earlier in the year.

But also Rybakina has to hope that Paolini doesn't win the title as she is also into the Quarter-Finals. She saw off Veronika Kudermetova to start off the day winning 6-2, 7-5. She now faces Belinda Bencic in the Quarter-Finals who took down Yullia Starodubtseva yesterday. Ironically Rybakina and Paolini are slated to meet in the final later this week if they win their next ties.

Also through include the likes of McCartney Kessler who saw off Liudmila Samsonova 7-6, 6-1 while Ekaterina Alexandrova newly in the top 10 is playing like a top 10 player sweeping aside Yue Yuan 6-3, 6-3 to also reach the Quarter-Finals. While there are some big ties to come all focus will be on Rybakina and Paolini with those spots still up for grabs in Riyadh.

Can Andreeva hold out or will Paolini and Rybakina continue to make her sweat? We will soon find out and likely we have a big semi-final to come to really decide who steals a march this week.