Mirra Andreeva spent Saturday’s China Open semifinal on Nikola Bartunkova’s serve. She created 10 break points, converted five and was through 6-2, 6-2 in 74 minutes, into her first Beijing final.
The 19-year-old hit 16 winners against 10 unforced errors, according to the WTA. It is her fifth final of 2026, level with Elena Rybakina, Aryna Sabalenka and Jessica Pegula for the most on tour this year, and the win was her 50th of the season, tying Pegula for the lead. It will lift her to a career-high No. 3 in Monday’s rankings.
The return has been the project. Andreeva leads the tour in break points converted this year, 301 in main-draw matches, the WTA said, and she credited the practice court. “We’ve been working on returning a lot,” she said. “Every practice that I have we’re trying to improve everything, but also to work on return because I feel like even if the opponent serves well, you still have to try and put some pressure on the server. I feel like the work is paying off little by little.”
“I think I played very good today. I’m super happy with the way I was playing,” she said. “Of course, Nikola is a very tricky opponent. We had a tough match at the US Open.”
Bartunkova’s week. The 20-year-old Czech, seeded 26th, had beaten four-time Grand Slam champion Sabalenka in the round of 32 and then took the last seven games from Karolina Muchova to reach her first WTA 1000 semifinal. She will make her Top 30 debut after the tournament, Reuters reported. Her profile is here.
The final. Sunday’s opponent comes from the second semifinal, played later Saturday, between 13th seed Elise Mertens and wild card Zheng Qinwen. Mertens beat Coco Gauff for the first time in six meetings and then 2023 champion Iga Swiatek 7-6 (0), 6-3; Zheng beat sixth seed Elina Svitolina 6-3, 7-6 (6). Andreeva lost her only previous match against Zheng and leads Mertens 1-0.
“Elise has a different game style,” Andreeva said. “I feel like Qinwen, obviously she’s more aggressive, she likes to hit a lot of balls, she tries to play fast, whereas I think Elise kind of likes to play, build the point, kind of be smart, what to do.”
What it means. Andreeva has already qualified for the WTA Finals at Indian Wells, so Sunday is about a fourth title of the year rather than a place in the finale. The singles final is scheduled for not before 7 p.m. local time. There is no gap afterward: the Wuhan Open, the last WTA 1000 of 2026, starts Monday, and the WTA projects Andreeva as its third seed, with a first-round bye. How the Finals field is decided is in our WTA Finals qualification explainer.
