World No. 1 Elena Rybakina defeated Russia's Diana Shnaider (13) 6-3, 7-5 in the semifinal of the tournament in Ningbo, China. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.

To defend the title and the 500 ranking points earned last year, the Kazakhstani player needs to win one more match.

Until today, Rybakina had beaten Shnaider twice. Both times this year, in Stuttgart and Cincinnati. And in two sets. Diana, in turn, can boast two victories over another Kazakhstani, Yulia Putintseva, whom she beat in Wuhan and Ningbo.

The expression "God loves a trinity" suited any outcome of the semifinal in Ningbo. Rybakina "applied" it to her victory.

After a chaotic start with many mutual errors, Elena at 2-2 won three games in a row – 5-2. And then, serving for the set, she should have, judging by the nature of the game, confidently taken her own. Instead, in the ninth game the opponents played 21 rallies, 16 of which were in the "deuce/advantage" format. Rybakina still won the protracted set – 6-3.

In the second set, the world No. 1 made a break in the seventh game. And at 5-4 she served for the match. Traditionally, problems on an even surface did not go away. Rybakina, making four unforced errors in a row, gave away her serve to love – 5-5. The end of the match, however, remained with the Kazakhstani – 6-3, 7-5. In 1 hour 34 minutes, our tennis player won 71 points, the Russian – 62. The ace count – 6:1, double faults – 5:6.

The match with Shnaider was Elena's seventh semifinal of the season. The Kazakhstani won six of them. On the path to defending the title, only Leylah Fernandez (30) remained. The Canadian at the start beat Belgium's Elise Mertens (8) – 2-6, 6-3, 7-5. Then she passed Belarusian Alexandra Sasnovich (122) – 7-5, 6-7 (3-7), 6-3 and Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova (33) – 4-6, 6-2, 6-1. In the semifinal, Fernandez beat Marie Bouzkova (26) of the Czech Republic – 6-3, 7-5.

The Kazakhstani's relationship with the Canadian on the court can be called complicated – 3:2 in our favor. Moreover, the last two matches, in Tokyo on hard and in Stuttgart on clay, were won by Rybakina.

The women's hard-court tournament Ningbo Open was founded in 2010. In 2013, the Ningbo Open received "125" status, in 2023 – "250", and in 2024 – "500".

Previously, Magda Linette (Poland), Ons Jabeur (Tunisia) and Australian Daria Kasatkina, who in 2024 still played for Russia, won the tournament.

Last year, the tournament was won by Rybakina, who in the final defeated Russian Alexandrova – 3-6, 6-0, 6-2.

The prize fund of Ningbo Open-2026 is $1.2 million.