Mirra Andreeva, 17, scores Iga Swiatek upset in Dubai

DUBAI—17-year-old Mirra Andreeva stormed into her first WTA 1000 semifinal on Thursday, shocking Iga Swiatek, 6-3, 6-3 at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

Andreeva, the No. 12 seed earned her second career win over a Top 2 player in eight months, backing up a Roland Garros win over then-No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka with a first win over Swiatek, avenging a three-set Cincinnati Open defeat to the former world No. 1 in 96 minutes on Center Court.

Indeed, the pair are in the early stages of what looks to be a thrilling rivalry, having last faced off in 2024 at the WTA 1000 event in Cincinnati. Andreeva won the first set there before narrowly losing the second and third to Swiatek, and the youngster looked raring for revenge after a busy week in Dubai.

Rainy conditions on Tuesday forced the youngster to play two matches on Wednesday, but Andreeva was apt for the test, defeating both Marketa Vondrousova and Peyton Stearns in straight sets to book the rematch with Swiatek.

Meanwhile Swiatek, who saw a three-year unbeaten streak in Doha end at the hands of Jelena Ostapenko, has looked strong in Dubai, winning a 6-0 set in each of her two matches against Victoria Azarenka and Dayana Yastremska.

Mirra is a good player. I already could see that before when we practiced and when we played in Cincinnati. It's not like I can win against her when I play worse. Iga Swiatek

Andreeva proved much more consistent than any of Swiatek’s prior opposition as the match got underway, breaking in the third game of the match to earn an early lead.

A short delay threatened to mark a turning point when Swiatek invoked the nascent video replay system to confirm Andreeva had touched the net on a game point, but Andreeva pressed on to hold, breaking serve a second time to win the first set.

Swiatek got off to a much stronger start in the second set only for things to quickly unravel: after navigating a marathon third game to consolidate a 3-1 lead, the wheels came off the bus for the five-time major champion, who lost four straight games to hand Andreeva the chance to serve for the match.

"I'm not happy with the results," Swiatek said after the match. "I feel like I under-performed. For sure I need to talk with my team a bit and plan the next weeks a bit differently 'cause I haven't had much time to practice before these tournaments.

"I felt that my tennis, there were some things missing that should have been there."

Earning two match points past the 90-minute mark, Andreeva gamely converted as Swiatek erred wide off the forehand side—her 31st unforced error of the day.

Awaiting Andreeva, who by contrast struck just 13 errors to 10 aces and 18 winners off the ground, in the semifinals will be either No. 6 seed Elena Rybakina, who saved six match points to defeat Paula Badosa, or 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin.