Elena Rybakina 1.73, Kristyna Pliskova 2.34
Due to start at 6:30 am
This will be their first meeting.
Much stronger overall results for Rybakina in the last year. Hard court results also favour her.
Rybakina beat Elise Mertens in 3 sets in the last round. She started as underdog in that match and also in her first round match with Saisai Zheng. She won that one in 3 sets. She won 69% of her hard court matches last season.
Pliskova has not lost a set so far. She beat Defending champ Aryna Sabalenka in the 2nd round. She has been serving extremely well. She won 55% of her hard court matches last year. She has been in the Shenzhen quarter finals twice before but had never made the semi finals until now.
Stats for the tournament favour Pliskova on serve and Rybakina on return. Pliskova has held 97% of her service games. Back Rybakina around 1.90 .
Update: Rybakina faced an early break point but held and easily took the first set. A single late break in set 2 gave her the match.
Rybakina won 6-2, 7-5.
