Mirra Andreeva upset No. 2 seed Iga Swiatek in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships quarterfinals, winning 6-3, 6-3 in 1 hour and 36 minutes. The 17-year-old came from a break down in the second set to seal her fifth career Top 10 victory.

Andreeva, the No. 12 seed, is now the youngest player to record five Top 10 wins since Nicole Vaidisova defeated Elena Dementieva at the 2007 Australian Open. The result also marks her second win over a World No. 2, following her defeat of Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s Roland Garros quarterfinals.

Dubai: Draws | Scores | Order of play 

Andreeva advances to her second semifinal at WTA 1000 level or above following Roland Garros 2024, and fifth tour-level semifinal overall. She is the youngest player to reach the last four in Dubai since the tournament's inception in 2001. Andreeva will bid to reach her second WTA final (following her maiden title in Iasi last July) against No. 6 seed Elena Rybakina, who defeated wild card Sofia Kenin 6-2, 7-6(2). In their only previous meeting in the 2023 Beijing third round, Rybakina came from a set and 4-2 down to deny Andreeva 2-6, 6-4, 6-1.

The first eagerly-anticipated meeting between Swiatek and Andreeva was a three-set barnburner in last year's Cincinnati quarterfinals, which the five-time major champion edged 4-6, 6-3, 7-5. In the rematch, the youngster again took the first set -- but this time, she halted Swiatek's attempted resurgence in its tracks, reeling off the last five games in a row to avenge the Cincinnati loss. Andreeva is the first player under the age of 18 to defeat Swiatek at tour level.

"Last time we played was a close match and it was tough, it was intense," Andreeva said afterwards. "This time I just tried to tell myself to go for my shots, to be aggressive, to not hesitate. I think that helped me to win in a way."

Cool under pressure: Despite the scoreline, the match featured several high-intensity stretches in which momentum could have got away from Andreeva. Yet it was notable that each time, her concentration never wavered. Andreeva responded to every potential setback with a steely demeanor and cool-headed play.

  • Swiatek came out of the blocks firing, and Andreeva's first service game was the first mini-barnburner of the match. It featured five clean backhand down the line winners between the pair, four of which came from Swiatek. There were four deuces, and Andreeva had to face down three break points. But it was the quality of her own backhand that saw her get over the line and on the board for 1-1.
  • Up 2-1 with the first break, Andreeva seemed to be coasting to a 3-1 lead courtesy of a pair of aces. But on game point, play was halted for several minutes due to a video review to establish whether she had touched the net chasing down a short return. She had, and a few points later faced a break-back point instead. But Andreeva faced this down as well, and held for 3-1 anyway with her third ace of the game.
  • Swiatek raised the pressure again at the start of the second set, hammering five clean return winners in Andreeva's first two service games of the set. She broke for 2-1, then saved two break-back points to extend her lead to 3-1. At this stage, the trajectory of the match was starting to look like a redux of their Cincinnati encounter. But Andreeva would not allow the repeat. Instead, she put together her cleanest, most dominant stretch of the match. Andreeva did not face game point as she reeled off the last five in a row, conceding only five points in this stretch (and just one on serve).

Afterwards, Andreeva said that she has been working with a psychologist on this.

"I have some new tips," she told press. "I have some new advices, in a way, how to work with my anger inside, what to do when I don't feel great, how to maintain my level when I feel great, how to keep being me.

"For example when it was 1-1, I was serving. When she broke me, she did three return winners. There was not much I could do about it. I just had to accept it. Been also working on acceptance when something doesn't go my way.

"I felt like it was out there on the court that I felt like still 1-3, but I feel strong. I feel like I'm still right there with her. Just thought that, OK, it's going to take some time but I'm going to go back and I'm going to try to come back and win the second set."

Aces, down-the-line winners key: Andreeva's backhand down the line is her signature shot, and was responsible for several of her best winners. But she also caught Swiatek off guard with her forehand down the line in several key moments, particularly after pulling the Pole forwards with short forehand slices: two such winners paved the way to a break for 2-1 in the first set, and another for 5-3 in the second. Andreeva also displayed a knack for upping the ante on return: she sealed the opening set with consecutive down-the-line return winners off each wing.

Must See

Andreeva's brilliant serving was also a crucial component of her win. She sent down 10 aces in total, including a nerveless pair as she served out the match. In total, she dropped just nine points behind her first serve. This is the third-highest number of aces Andreeva has served in a single tour-level match, following the 12 she fired against Swiatek at Cincinnati 2024 and the 11 she totalled against Katie Volynets in the first round of Doha last week.

Overall, Andreeva's ability to raise her level did not come at the expense of over-pressing -- in contrast to Swiatek. Andreeva tallied 18 winners but only 13 unforced errors, but Swiatek's 22 winners were outweighed by 33 unforced errors. Frequently, the former World No. 1's radar went awry in important moments: she was broken in the first set on a double fault, and twice in the second set on backhand mistakes. A final forehand wide sealed victory for Andreeva.

"I wasn't really sure where my ball is going to go," said Swiatek afterwards. "I wasn't as precise as I should be. 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."

Swiatek's dissatisfaction wasn't just with her loss to Andreeva, but her entire Middle East swing. Last week in Doha as three-time defending champion, she fell 6-3, 6-1 in the semifinals to Jelena Ostapenko.

"For sure I'm not happy with the results," she said. "I feel like I under-performed. For sure I need to, like, 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 was kind of... There were some things missing that should have been there. We'll talk about it."