Rybakina sets up final against Swiatek in Doha

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.

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).

Doha WTA 1000, other semi-final result (Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex, hard, USD 3.211.715):

• Iga Swiatek w/o Karolina Pliskova

Watch also

Eye of the Coach #75: Why Rybakina’s game is a nightmare for Swiatek

Tennis Majors