Rybakina sets up Stuttgart Open title clash with Muchova

Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina surged to a 7-5, 6-1 victory over teenager Mirra Andreeva on Saturday and will face Karolina Muchova for the title in Stuttgart.

Rybakina shook off any lingering fatigue from a late finish in Friday’s quarter-final win over Leylah Fernandez to reach her third final of the year.

Top seed Rybakina snatched a tight opening set by breaking Andreeva, who was 7-0 on clay this season and won in Linz last week, with the Russian serving to force a tie-break.

She carried over that momentum to sweep into a 5-0 lead in the second set before closing out victory in 77 minutes.

“First set, we were going pretty even,” said Rybakina. “I had some opportunities to go up but didn’t take them. But I’m happy that in these important moments, my serve worked and I stayed aggressive.

“Then in the second set being up, I was more free to hit, to step in, to play even more aggressive.

“So I’m pretty happy with the performance. It was really solid. And I guess the three-hour match yesterday, it did help me today.”

Rybakina, who finished runner-up at Indian Wells last month, will have a chance on Sunday to regain the title she won two years ago and drive off with a second Porsche sports car -- the coveted prize awarded to the champion in Stuttgart.

Muchova edged Elina Svitolina 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 earlier in the day to book her spot in the final.

The world number 12 will play the first 500-level final of her career as she goes in search of a third WTA title.

Muchova, the 2023 Roland Garros runner-up, got the edge over Svitolina to claim the opening set as she converted both break points against the Ukrainian.

The seventh seed’s serve deserted her somewhat in the next frame as Svitolina hit back by breaking Muchova three times to claim the second set.

The crucial moment in the decider came in the ninth game as Muchova pounced on Svitolina’s service game to get her nose in front at 5-4.

That sole break was enough as Muchova then served out the match to love, sealing the deal with an ace out wide.

Cobolli, Shelton enter final: Flavio Cobolli ended top seed Alexander Zverev’s Munich Open title defence on Saturday as the Italian breezed past the world number three in straight sets to book his place in the final against Ben Shelton.

Fourth seed Cobolli downed the home favourite 6-3, 6-3 in just under 70 minutes in their semi-final meeting.

The 23-year-old’s blistering performance put paid to Zverev’s hopes for a record fourth title on the red dirt in Munich.

“It was one of my best matches ever against one of my biggest friends on tour,” Cobolli said.

“I’m a little bit shy when I play with a big player, but today I played one of my best performances and I’m really happy.”

Cobolli edged ahead of Zverev when he broke the German to love in the fourth game of the first set.

Zverev struggled to make inroads on Cobolli’s serve over the course of the match, and when the world number 16 pounced on his opponent’s first service game of the second set the writing was on the wall for Zverev.

Two punishing crosscourt forehands followed up by a crisp volley to finish off game seven secured Cobolli a double break and gave him the chance to serve for the match.

But Zverev hit back immediately as he secured his first break points of the encounter, converting at the second time of asking to halt his opponent.

A brilliant forehand on the run handed Cobolli match point in the next game and when Zverev framed a deep return the match was decided.

Cobolli advances to his second final of the season, where he will look to add to the title he picked up in Acapulco in February.

Shelton, who later Saturday beat qualifier Alex Molcan 6-3, 6-4, will be the man standing in Cobolli’s way as the American seeks to go one better than last year when he lost the Munich title match to Zverev.

Second seed Shelton broke in the sixth game of the first set to get his nose in front against the 166th-ranked Slovakian and then secured a crucial second break of the match to go 5-4 up in the final set.

The 23-year-old was on form with his serve as Molcan managed to engineer just one break point across the two sets, which Shelton saved.

Agence France-Presse