Elena Rybakina continued her near-perfect start to 2024, winning her 15th match to reach her third final of the season at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open, holding off a late surge to clinch a 6-2, 6-4 win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in 89 minutes on Center Court.
Aside from a surprising second-round exit from the Australian Open, Rybakina has looked like the player to beat with titles at the Brisbane International and the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open. She carries an eight-match winning streak from the latter and into the championship match against world No. 1 Iga Swiatek, who received a walkover in her semifinal against Karolina Pliskova.
The No. 3 seed dropped just one set en route to her meeting with a resurgent Pavlyuchenkova, who was contesting her first hard-court WTA 1000 semifinal since the 2010 Cincinnati Open. After missing most of 2022 due to a knee injury, the 2021 Roland Garros runner-up showed flashes of her top from last spring in Paris, where she reached the quarterfinals with a protected ranking.
Now projected to return to the Top 30 after this week, Pavlyuchenkova looked impressive through wins over No. 11 seed Daria Kasatkina and reigning Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova before defeating American Danielle Collins in the quarters.
Rybakina, however, proved an entirely different opponent with her relentless hitting and high-octane serve, both of which helped her roll through the opening set with two breaks of serve and 12 winners to seven.
