Rybakina to face Fernandez in Ningbo final

Defending champion and world number one Elena Rybakina beat Russian player Diana Shnaider 6-3, 7-5 in the semifinal on Saturday, returning to the final of the Ningbo Open. The win sent a warning to her rivals ahead of next month's WTA Finals.

In the final on Sunday, Rybakina will face Canadian Leylah Fernandez, who beat Czech player Marie Bouzkova by the same score in the first semifinal. Fernandez was not seeded in the tournament.

The Australian and US Open champion came to Ningbo to defend her title after a heavy defeat in Beijing and a foot injury that forced her to withdraw from Wuhan. Despite some ups and downs against 13th seed Shnaider, she showed glimpses of her best form.

Rybakina started aggressively with powerful deep groundstrokes and took control of the first set. She closed it out on her 11th set point, at a moment when her form had briefly dipped.

In the second set, the 27-year-old continued to struggle to land her first serve. Still, she won the key points to go ahead 4-3. However, she lost her serve in the 10th game. Rybakina then regained the advantage with strong groundstrokes, served more consistently in the following game and finished the match, reaching the final.