Garbine Muguruza reached the final of the Dubai Tennis Championships after a gruelling victory over Elise Mertens on Friday.
The Spaniard saw six match points come and go in a battle lasting two hours and seven minutes before eventually closing out a 6-4 7-6 (7-5) win.
Having reached the final in Doha last week, where she lost to Petra Kvitova, Muguruza is the fifth player this century to reach back-to-back finals in the Middle East double, after Martina Hingis, Justine Henin, Caroline Wozniacki and Svetlana Kuznetsova.
The two-time major winner has now reached three finals in her past four tournaments and has won 17 matches in 2021.
Despite being ahead for much of the match, Muguruza was nonetheless pushed hard by Mertens, who fought back to beat Jessica Pegula in the quarter-finals after facing three match points.
She led by a set and 5-3 but Mertens continued to come up clutch at key points until Muguruza at last completed the job with a smash in the tie-break.
"You have to be all the time concentrated, otherwise she will come back," she said. "I didn't lose the focus even though I couldn't close it [at first] – I was just looking forward to the next opportunity.
"I didn't think I played bad on the match points. They were just tough points that didn't come to my side. She was very good in defence and on those points, I felt she brought her magic. But I was like, 'Okay, I'm playing well, sooner or later I will convert the match point'. I didn't lose the concentration or get too irritated."
Muguruza will face Barbora Krejcikova in the final, the Czech defeating Jil Teichmann 7-5 6-2.
Krejcikova saved 10 of 11 break points as she reached just the second Tour final of her singles career and has yet to drop a set at this tournament.
The world number 63 is the lowest-ranked singles finalist in history in Dubai, with that previous record held by Virginie Razzano, who was ranked 58 in the world when she lost to Venus Williams in 2009.
WTA Finals: Sabalenka, Swiatek and the battle for number one
Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek are once again embroiled in a tussle for the year-end number one spot in the WTA rankings.
Last year, Swiatek finished as the year-end number one, with a flawless display at the 2023 WTA Finals in Cancun seeing her top Sabalenka, who had been in pole position.
Sabalenka will be out to avoid a similar fate this time around, with the WTA Finals moving to Riyadh.
Here, we preview the key storylines ahead of the tournament.
Sabalenka and Swiatek go head-to-head... again
It has been a fantastic season for both of these players, who have proved their credentials as the standout duo on the WTA Tour.
Sabalenka has scooped two grand slam titles, triumphing at the Australian Open and the US Open.
Swiatek, meanwhile, won the French Open and collected bronze at Roland-Garros at the Paris Olympics. Between them, the pair have won nine Tour-level titles in 2024.
Sabalenka will guarantee her place at the top of the world heading into 2025 should she win her three group-stage matches in Riyadh.
The Belarusian takes on Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen, world number five Elena Rybakina and Jasmine Paolini, this year's Wimbledon and French Open runner-up, in her group.
Sabalenka is the first player to make successive WTA Finals appearances as the number one since Serena Williams in 2013 and 2014.
The 26-year-old has reeled off 46 match wins across grand slams and WTA 1000 events this year, which is one more than Swiatek (45).
Swiatek, on the other hand, has Coco Gauff, US Open runner-up Jessica Pegula and Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova to contend with.
Since the reintroduction of the round-robin format in 2003, Swiatek has conceded the fewest games of any player to win the WTA Finals, dropping only 20 games en route to the title last year - breaking Williams' record of 32 from 2012.
Swiatek downed Pegula in last year's final, and dropped just a single game. That made her the player to concede the fewest games in a WTA Finals title match. Martina Navratilova (1983) and Kim Clijsters (2003) previously shared the record, conceding two games in respective finals.
She is also one of only two players, along with Williams, to win the tournament without dropping a set since the tournament's format was altered 21 years ago.
Swiatek could become the first player to win the WTA Finals on consecutive occasions as the second seed. Among this year's qualifiers, the 23-year-old (75%, 9-3) holds the highest winning percentage at the WTA Finals.
Since 2003, the Pole is, however, the only top seed to win all three group matches and not reach the final at that year's WTA Finals, losing to Sabalenka in their semi-final in 2022.
The key insights for the other contenders
Since 2003, Gauff (2022-2024) is only the second player to reach three consecutive editions of the WTA Finals before turning 21, after Maria Sharapova (2004-2007).
Gauff is aiming to become the fourth American to win the WTA Finals before turning 21 after Chris Evert (1972, 1973 and 1975), Tracy Austin (1980) and Williams (2001).
Paolini has had a fine year, and will become only the fourth Italian to appear at the WTA Finals after Francesca Schiavone (2010), Sara Errani (2012, 2013) and Flavia Pennetta (2015).
At the age of 28 years and 303 days, she will become the second-oldest player to make their maiden WTA Finals appearance as a top-five ranked player, after Li Na (29 years and 241 days) in 2011 – since the WTA rankings were first published in 1975. Paolini (18) won the joint-most matches at grand slam events in 2024, along with Sabalenka.
Meanwhile, only Swiatek (five) and Sabalenka (four) have won more WTA-level titles in 2024 than Rybakina (three).
At the age of 30 years and 258 days on the day of the final, Pegula could become the oldest maiden-winner of the WTA Finals since the event’s inauguration in 1972, surpassing Jana Novotna (29 years and 52 days) in 1997.
In Cancun last year, Pegula became the first player to face the WTA's top four players at a single event, since the rankings were first published in 1975.
Since the event's inauguration in 1972, Zheng will become only the second player from China to appear at the WTA Finals after Li Na (2011-2013).
Excluding alternates, Krejcikova (13) will be the first player ranked outside the WTA's top 10 to appear at the WTA Finals since Vera Zvonareva (11) in 2004.
Zverev reaches milestone ATP semi-final after Tsitsipas victory in Paris
Alexander Zverev became just the third active player to reach 20 ATP Masters 1000 semi-finals on Friday at the Paris Masters after his victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Zverev, who is chasing his seventh Masters 1000 title and second of the season, needed an hour and 41 minutes to secure a 7-5 6-4 triumph over his Greek opponent.
The pair exchanged blows early on, but it would be Zverev who claimed the decisive point, breaking Tsitsipas' serve in the 11th game.
Zverev then saved an immediate break point in the following game, but was able to close out the opener to gain the early advantage in the French capital.
A break of serve came much sooner for Zverev in the second set, winning the third game to put himself in the driving seat for the remainder of the contest.
He ended the encounter in style, serving three consecutive love games to seal his progression to the final four, where he will face either Holger Rune or Alex de Minaur.
Data Debrief: Alexander the Great
Zverev has now reached his 20th ATP Masters 1000 semi-final, equalling Andy Roddick for the seventh-most since the format’s introduction in 1990.
He is just the eighth player in history to reach 20 ATP Masters 1000 semi-finals. Zverev joins Novak Djokovic (78), Rafael Nadal (76), Roger Federer (66), Andy Murray (33), Andre Agassi (32), Pete Sampras (31) and Roddick (20) to hit that total.
Zverev also became the first player born in the 1990s to earn 100 Top 20 wins (100-101). Daniil Medvedev, born in 1996, is second, holding a 99-73 record.
Alcaraz admits he was 'not up to the level' after defeat to Humbert
World number two Carlos Alcaraz admitted that he was "not up to the level" after a defeat to Ugo Humbert saw him crash out of the Paris Masters in the third round.
Humbert, ranked 18th in the world, posted a 6-1 3-6 7-5 win against the second seed in two hours 17 minutes to reach the quarter-finals of the ATP Masters 1000 event in the French capital.
"It was a very intense match. I started with some doubts about my game," said 21-year-old Alcaraz after the surprise defeat.
"Against a player who attacks whenever he can, who hits very aggressively at the slightest opportunity, it wasn't easy to get into the match.
"I was not up to the level he displayed. Ugo's performance was really high. The way he hits the ball is incredible."
Alcaraz had his sights set on a fifth title of the season in Paris but will move on to the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin next, with the season finale to be played from November 10 to 17.
Humbert, meanwhile, will continue his hunt in the Paris Masters as he preps up to battle Australia's Jordan Thompson for a spot in the semi-finals.
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