STUTTGART, Germany, April 18 (Reuters) - Top seed Elena Rybakina brushed aside Russian sixth seed Mirra Andreeva 7-5 6-1 in the Stuttgart Open semi-finals on Saturday to book her place in the final of the WTA 500 indoor claycourt tournament against Karolina Muchova.
Rybakina and Andreeva traded holds in the opening set before Rybakina broke to move ahead 4-2. Andreeva responded to level at 4-4, but the Russian-born Kazakh world number two raised her intensity to close it out.
Rybakina was relentless in the second set, surging to a 5-0 lead before sealing victory in one hour and 17 minutes.
"First set, we were going pretty even," Rybakina said. "I had some opportunities to go up but didn't take them. But I'm happy that in these important moments, my serve worked and I stayed aggressive.
"Then in the second set being up, I was more free to hit, to step in, to play even more aggressive. So I'm pretty happy with the performance. It was really solid. And I guess the three-hour match yesterday, it did help me today."
Andreeva had arrived in Stuttgart in fine form after winning the Linz Open title and having knocked out six-times Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek and defending champion Jelena Ostapenkoin Stuttgart.
Rybakina reached her third final of the year. The 26-year-old lifted the Australian Open trophy and finished runner-up at Indian Wells.
Czech seventh seed Muchova reached the final by overcoming Ukrainian fourth seed Elina Svitolina 6-4 2-6 6-4.
Muchova broke Svitolina in the opening game and surged into a 3-0 lead. Svitolina, the Australian Open semi-finalist, took the next two games to close the gap, but Muchova sealed the opening set.
Momentum swung sharply when Svitolina found her rhythm, racing into a 3-0 lead and stretching it to 5-1 before taking the set.
The decider remained finely poised until Muchova made her move at 4-4, earning a decisive break before sealing victory in two hours and 14 minutes.
(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru;, editing by Ed Osmond)
