Rybakina sets up final against Swiatek in Doha

February 16, 2024

Elena Rybakina defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2, 6-4 on Friday afternoon. She’ll face Pole Iga Swiatek, the top seed, for the title

Imago/Panoramic

Qatar Total Energies Open •Semi-final • Completed

See draw

E. RybakinavsA. Pavlyuchenkova

Kazakh Elena Rybakina, the No 3 seed, reached the final of the Qatar Open by defeating Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2, 6-4 at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex in Doha on Friday.

Rybakina, ranked No 4 and the winner in Abu Dhabi last weekend, will face Pole Iga Swiatek, the top seed, next. Swiatek reached the final when Karolina Pliskova withdrew before their match due to a lower back injury.

The Kazakh won against Chinese Lin Zhu (6-2, 6-1), American Emma Navarro, the No 16 seed (6-1, 6-7 (6), 6-4) and Canadian Leylah Fernandez (6-4, 6-2) ahead of her victory.

Rybakina & Swiatek will face each other in the Doha Final.

Elena has won their last 3 meetings & leads the head to head 3-1.

Elena is 15-2 in 2024 & has won 2 titles this year. She leads the tour in match wins & is on an 8 match win streak.

Iga is 10-1 in 2024 & is playing… pic.twitter.com/Ffr7pVbREk
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) February 16, 2024

In the previous rounds of the Qatar tournament, Pavlyuchenkova, ranked No 32, beat No 11 seed Daria Kasatkina (6-2, 7-6 (2)), Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk (2-1 ret.), No 6 seed Marketa Vondrousova (7-5, 6-3) and American qualifier Danielle Collins (7-5, 6-4).