Kalinskaya shocks Swiatek in Dubai, booking the final with…
February 23 (Reuters) – Russian qualifier Anna Kalinskaya resumed her giant-killing run at the Dubai Tennis Championships, defeating world number one Iga Swiatek 6-4 6-4 on Friday to advance to the final and inch closer to her first tour-level win. Unseeded Jasmine Paolini will face Kalinskaya on Saturday, having saved six set chances late in the second semi-final on Centre Court against Romanian Sorana Cirstea to win 6-2 7-6(6).
Kalinskaya, an Australian Open quarter-finalist, rallied from a break and 4-2 down to force Swiatek into a flurry of errors in the first set, which the 25-year-old won in under an hour. The world number 40, who surprised U.S. Open champion Coco Gauff in the previous round after defeating 2017 French Open winner Jelena Ostapenko, broke early in the second set as Swiatek continued to make errors.
