On Friday, February 23, the semifinal matches of the WTA-1000 tournament were played in Dubai (UAE). Russian tennis player Anna Kalinskaya, ranked 40th in the world ranking, participated in the second match. Kalinskaya’s performance in Dubai was a pleasant surprise. The Russian reached the main draw through the national team, and already in the tournament she defeated such powerful rivals as the 2017 Roland Garros champion Elena Ostapenko, ninth seed, and the current US Open winner Cori Gauff (3) . Read more about Kalinskaya’s decisive victory over Gauff and about other quarterfinals, one of which featured an incredible comeback, in a separate article.
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In general, Kalinskaya, who reached the semifinals of the “thousand” for the first time, has been in excellent form lately, and proof of this is her arrival in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open; So far, this is Anna’s best result in door slamming. But today her opponent was four-time TBS champion, world number one Iga Swiatek. The same Swiatek who has been in excellent shape not only recently, but for several years. Of course, he has setbacks in some games. But who doesn’t have them? Therefore, Iga has historically been successful in competitions in the Middle East. Just six days ago she won the thousandth in Doha.
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Swiatek started and finished her quarterfinal against Kalinska. Journalists assumed that Gauff would become his rival and therefore almost did not ask questions about a possible meeting with the Russian. But one of them was still ringing. “Of course, we will prepare tactically against Kalinskaya. I don’t know if we play…” was Iga’s response, quoted by the WTA press service.
Swiatek is here. He had actually never played with Kalinskaya before. Anna, responding to a question about the upcoming semi-final, said this. “I’m not surprised that Iga has become number 1. Because I can already see that she is very strong psychologically and physically. I need to be prepared, we will see what can be done,” the WTA press service quotes her.
Anna Kalinskaya at the WTA-1000 tournament in Dubai in 2024
Photo: Robert Prange/Getty Images
Swiatek’s first serve went immediately (two aces in the first game), but he did not always act accurately in rallies. Because of this, Kalinskaya immediately faced break points, but missed both opportunities to take someone else’s serve. In the second game, the Russian, on the other hand, saved a break point: the Polish player shot inaccurately on the corresponding move. Then, for some time, tennis players stayed away from break points. Anna started the sixth game badly with her serve: 0:40. But then Iga started making mistakes, “exactly.” And yet, from the fifth break point, Swiatek achieved her goal and took a 4:2 lead, having achieved the first break of the match.
But Kalinskaya was not confused by this. She achieved a reverse breakup, already zero! Swiatek also helped her in this, ending her game with a double fault. And in the eighth game, Anna saved another break point and tied the score 4:4. Furthermore, then the Russian, taking advantage of the following inaccuracies of the Polish player (11 unforced errors per match, although there were the same number of winners), took the other’s game again and prepared to serve for the set. And he took advantage of the first set point and finally won four games in a row: 6:4 in 53 minutes.
At the beginning of the second game, Kalinskaya did not stop there and immediately made a break: Swiatek continued to accumulate errors, after which she confirmed the lead at 2:0. Having lost one of the rallies in the second game, the Polish player threw her racket onto the court in anger, for which she received a warning.
Iga Swiatek throws her racket. Transmission frame
Photo: WTA screenshot
In the first half of the set, Anna gave Iga no chance with her serve. And in the seventh game she did a great job on the return and, after making it 5-2 on the second break point (the Polish player hit the net), she came out to serve for the match. Unfortunately, it didn’t work: the Russian got a double match point, but the Pole began attacking successfully and at the end of the game she converted a second break point, taking advantage of her opponent’s frustration. shooting. Kalinskaya had the second chance to serve for the match when the score was 5:4. And then it worked! After overcoming two break points, Anna converted the first match point: 6:4, 6:4 in 1 hour and 42 minutes.
Thus Kalinskaya reached the final of a WTA tournament for the first time in her career, and immediately in the “thousand”. On Monday, in any case, she will update her personal record in the world ranking. In case of defeat in the final, Anna will become the 24th racket in the world, and in case of victory, 16th.
Kalinskaya will play the final against world number 26 Jasmine Paolini, who defeated Sorana Cîrstu, 22 in the world rankings. Yesterday, let us remember, Paolini was resting, since Elena Rybakina withdrew due to a gastrointestinal illness, and Kirstya, in a crazy match in which she managed to recover six match points, broke the resistance of the current Wimbledon champion, Marketa Vondrousova.
Sorana no longer had enough strength for the second consecutive feat. In the first set she did not have a single break point and Paolini, who took someone else’s serve twice, won the game 6-2. But the second set turned out to be a battle. The Italian lost a match point in the reception – 5:4, and the Romanian, in turn, lost five set points – 6:5. In the tiebreaker with several mini-breaks, Yasmine took advantage of the first match point, shooting into an empty corner: 6:2, 7:6 (8:6) in 1 hour 59 minutes.
For Paolini, 28, this will be the fifth final of her career at the WTA level and the first in the “thousand meters.” Her stats in previous finals are 1-3.
The “thousand” final in Dubai Anna Kalinskaya (Russia, Q) – Yasmine Paolini (Italy) will take place on Saturday, February 24. Follow all the events of the “Championship”.
