Overview

• Elena Rybakina beat Jasmine Paolini 6-3, 6-2 in 1 hour 29 minutes, firing 10 aces and 30 winners while saving all seven break points faced.
• The victory lifts Rybakina to roughly 4,130 points in the Race to Riyadh, with a Ningbo title projected to bring her to about 4,305—still short of clinching.
• Paolini, who would have secured qualification with a semifinal win, remains in contention for one of the final two spots with six players already qualified.
• Ekaterina Alexandrova advanced 6-3, 6-4 over Diana Shnaider to set Sunday’s final against Rybakina in Ningbo.
• After Paolini’s 3-hour-plus quarterfinal comeback over Belinda Bencic and Mirra Andreeva’s early Ningbo exit, the decisive points now hinge on the Ningbo final and next week’s WTA 500 in Tokyo, where both Rybakina and Paolini are entered.