Rybakina Beats Shnaider 6-3, 7-5 to Reach Ningbo Final Against Fernandez

Elena Rybakina moved one win away from a second straight Ningbo Open title on Saturday, beating sixth seed Diana Shnaider 6-3, 7-5 in a semifinal that tested the world number one far more than the scoreline suggests. The defending champion closed out the match in one hour and 35 minutes at the Yinzhou International Tennis Centre, and she will face Leylah Fernandez of Canada in the final on Sunday, October 25.

The opening set turned on one long service game that Rybakina could not finish. She held set point after set point and let ten of them slip away before converting the 11th, sealing a set that had looked under her control from the start. The numbers behind the win were uneven. Rybakina faced just one break point in the whole match, but she also made 42 unforced errors, a count that kept the Russian in games she might otherwise have lost quickly.

Broken serving for the match, then an instant reply

The second set followed the same pattern of control mixed with lapses. Rybakina broke for a 4-3 lead with the powerful hitting from deep that has carried her season, then faltered at the finish line. Serving for the match in the 10th game, she was broken to love. Her response was immediate. She broke back in the next game and served out the victory with a far more assured display, taking her place in a second straight Ningbo final.

Shnaider, the sixth seed and the world number 13, is a left-hander, and Rybakina said that matchup shaped the match. "She played really well and it is always difficult to play against left-handers. We do not have so many on the tour," Rybakina said. "I needed some time. The returns were not as bad but during the rallies to switch the pattern was a little bit of an issue for me, but I am happy I managed to win in two sets."

Fernandez wins the other semifinal by the same score

Fernandez reached the final by beating Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5 in the earlier semifinal, winning the final three games to close a match that lasted one hour and 58 minutes. The unseeded Canadian hit 27 winners and continued the strong Asian swing that brought her the Singapore title last month. This is her second final of the season and the 10th of her career.

A first championship meeting on Sunday

Sunday's final will be the sixth meeting between Rybakina and Fernandez and their first in a championship match. Rybakina leads their head to head series 3-2 and won their previous two meetings, including one in Stuttgart earlier this year. The Ningbo final is the 28th of Rybakina's career, and she has never lost a match at this tournament, a 7-0 record across her two visits.

Rybakina arrived in Ningbo for her title defence after a bruising defeat in Beijing and a foot injury that forced her out of Wuhan, and the week has not been smooth. Qualifier Katarzyna Kawa pushed her to three sets in the quarterfinals before Shnaider made her work again on Saturday. The title match is also her last test before next month's WTA Finals, where she will arrive as the world number one and the winner of this year's Australian Open and US Open titles.