Anna Kalinskaya stuns Iga Swiatek in Dubai Tennis Championships, becomes first qualifier to beat World No. 1 since Jennifer Brady

The Russian defeated the Polish top seed in straight sets in the semis.

Two qualifiers will be battling it out for the WTA Dubai Tennis Championships 2024 trophy. Anna Kalinskaya is one of the qualifiers in question. The Russian advanced to the final, making short work of World No. 1 Iga Swiatek’s game, 6-4, 6-4 in their semi-final clash.

In her first match of her career against the Pole, the Australian Open 2024 quarterfinalist came back from 4-2 down. She reeled off four quick games to take the first set 6-4 and took the second set by a similar scoreline to book her spot in Sunday’s final against World No. 26 Jasmine Paolini.

1 – Anna Kalinskaya is the first qualifier to defeat the World No. 1 since Jennifer Brady who won against Ashleigh Barty in Brisbane 2020 (1506 days ago) – the #1 won the previous 21 such meetings. Uproar.#DDFTennis | @DDFTennis @WTA @WTA_insider pic.twitter.com/0DU1N05ZHv

— OptaAce (@OptaAce) February 23, 2024

The 40th-ranked Kalinskaya came through qualifying and won three matches against the top 10 players in as many days to make the biggest final of her career. The 25-year-old from Moscow took out Jelena Ostapenko (World No. 9), Coco Gauff (World No. 3) and finally Iga Swiatek (World No. 1) for back-to-back wins. 

Swiatek’s five aces and a larger share of first-serve points (66.7% to Kalinskaya’s 64%) were not enough to prevent her from crashing out of the event and losing a chance for a rare Doha-Dubai double. The Russian also saved nine break points en route to her victory. She is the first qualifier to make the finals of the Dubai Tennis Championships since its inception in 2001.

The latest loss is Iga Swiatek’s second of the season after the third-round match of the Australian Open 2024. It is only the Polish star’s second loss from 28 games since her second-round exit at the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo in September last year.  

Kalinskaya has defeated four top-10 players this season. The first of the top 10 was Barbora Krejcikova at the Adelaide International 2024 in the first round.

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Anna Kalinskaya will meet Jasmine Paolini of Italy in the final of the Dubai Tennis Championships 2024. Paolini will be looking for payback for her loss at the Russian’s hands in the Australian Open 2024 round of 16. Kalinskaya posted a 6-4, 6-2 win over Paolini in the fourth round of the Australian Open. 

Both players are tied at one win each in their head-to-head and will be appearing in their first-ever WTA 1000 finals. 

Jasmine Paolini has been busy on her side of the draw, crossing paths with World No. 11 Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia and the World No. 8 from Greece, Maria Sakkari. Paolini benefited from a walkover against Elena Rybakina and felled Marketa Voundrousova’s conqueror, Sorana Cirstea, in the semifinals.

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