Kalinskaya stuns Swiatek in Dubai to book Paolini title clash
Russian qualifier Anna Kalinskaya continued her giant-killing run at the Dubai Tennis Championships by stunning world number one Iga Swiatek 6-4 6-4 on Friday to reach the final and inch closer to her maiden tour-level title.
Standing in Kalinskaya’s way on Saturday will be unseeded Jasmine Paolini, who saved six set points late on in the other semi-final on Centre Court against Romanian Sorana Cirstea to win 6-2 7-6(6).
Australian Open quarter-finalist Kalinskaya fought from a break and 4-2 down and forced Swiatek into making a number of errors with relentless hitting in the first set which the 25-yearold wrapped up in a little under an hour.
The world number 40, who stunned U.S. Open champion Coco Gauff in the last round after outclassing 2017 French Open winner Jelena Ostapenko, broke early in the second set as Swiatek continued to spray the errors.
A frustrated Swiatek threw her racket to the floor at one point before Kalinskaya went up 2-0 and the Russian withstood some late pressure to close out the victory and snap the Doha champion’s seven-match winning run.
“She’s a great player. I know if I don’t stay calm and aggressive she’s going to destroy me,” Kalinskaya said.
“That was my plan. To stay aggressive, move her a lot. I’m happy I won .”
Paolini had reached the semifinals after in-form fourth seed Elena Rybakina pulled out of their quarter-final clash on Thursday due to illness and the 26thranked Italian wrapped up the first set against an off-colour Cirstea in 40 minutes.