Rybakina to meet Fernandez in the Ningbo Tennis final

Rybakina, who has won three Grand Slam titles, had taken the world number one ranking from Belarus's Aryna Sabalenka after winning the US Open title in September.

The Moscow-born Kazakh player missed last week's Wuhan Open due to a foot injury.

Rybakina appeared to be on her way to easily clinching the first set, but she faced difficulty closing it out while serving at 5-3.

Rybakina committed two double faults and uncharacteristically squandered 10 set points.

The 27-year-old player finally succeeded in securing the set on her eleventh attempt.

Shnaider (22), known for her powerful aggressive style, managed to escape a difficult situation on her serve to hold it at the beginning of the second set.

As she fully settled into the match, Rybakina increased the pressure to break her opponent's serve in the seventh game, then held her own serve to lead 5-3.

Rybakina served for the match at 5-4 but suffered a sudden collapse as victory neared, losing her serve at love before immediately regaining her composure to break her opponent's serve again.

She served for the match once more at 6-5, and this time she made no mistakes, ending the encounter on her second match point with a two-handed backhand down the line.

In the other semi-final, Fernandez defeated Czech player Marie Bouzkova 6-3, 7-5, continuing her pursuit of a second title in two months.

The 30th-ranked Canadian had won her first title of the year in Singapore last month and proved her superiority over the 26th-ranked Bouzkova.

After dominating the first set, Fernandez broke her opponent's serve early in the second to lead 2-0, before Bouzkova responded, with both players struggling on their serves.

The second set turned into an intense battle before Fernandez clinched it after less than two hours of play, when Bouzkova hit the ball out of court.