Mirra Andreeva breezed into the China Open final on Saturday, brushing aside Nikola Bartunkova 6-2, 6-2, and will play either home hope Zheng Qinwen or Belgium’s Elise Mertens for the title.
“I wanted to play aggressive today,” said the 19-year-old Russian, ranked five in the world.
Andreeva raced into a 4-0 lead in the first set in Beijing as 34th-ranked Bartunkova double-faulted twice before giving away the fourth game.
The 20-year-old Czech made 20 unforced errors across the 74-minute match and was outplayed by the French Open champion, who sent down 27 winners.
Bartunkova saved the first match point but Andreeva triumphed on the second without much more fuss.
“She’s a very tricky opponent to play against… she sometimes manages to hit rockets out of nowhere,” Andreeva said according to AFP.
“I tried to be brave no matter what,” she said, adding that she calmed some nerves by playing the card game Uno with her coach before the semi-final.
At four Andreeva is the highest-seeded player left in the tournament after a run of upsets saw the departures of Elena Rybakina, Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff.
