Italian second seed Jasmine Paolini kept her hopes of qualifying for the WTA Finals alive with a gritty comeback win over Belinda Bencic, beating Switzerland's Tokyo Olympic gold medallist 5-7 7-5 6-3 in the Ningbo Open quarterfinals on Friday.
What a match! Big fight in Ningbo…. Semis next! 💪🏾🇮🇹🇨🇳 @WTA pic.twitter.com/T2WxfPfoMO
— Jasmine Paolini (@JasminePaolini) October 17, 2025
Paolini will face third-seed Elena Rybakina in the semis, after the Russian-born Kazakh took less than an hour to beat Ajla Tomljanovic 6-2 6-0 later in the day.
Twice Grand Slam finalist Paolini needs a win over Rybakina in the last four to qualify for next month's WTA Finals in Riyadh.
The contest against Bencic at the WTA 500 hardcourt tournament, which lasted a marathon three hours and 22 minutes, marked the longest match of Paolini's season.
Bencic, 28, served for the match at 5-4 in the second set but was unable to close it out. Her momentum was further interrupted in the deciding set when she took a medical time-out due to a thigh issue while trailing 4-3.
"One of the toughest I ever played, honestly," Paolini, who was the runner-up at last year's French Open and Wimbledon, said. "Belinda, she's an amazing player and a very good person. Today, she deserved to win as well, so it was really tough.
"I'm happy I stayed there, because at the beginning I had too many mistakes. I couldn't find my best tennis, but then I just tried to stay there every point and turn the match somehow."
Elena Rybakina and Jasmine Paolini will face each other in the semifinals of Ningbo.
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) October 17, 2025
Jasmine leads the head to head 3-2 and won their last 2 meetings.
This match will be very big in terms of deciding who reaches the WTA Finals in Riyadh.
Elena, Jasmine, & Mirra Andreeva… pic.twitter.com/bft7HKoMmL
Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Amanda Anisimova, Jessica Pegula and Madison Keys have all qualified for the season-ending championship of the WTA Tour in Riyadh, with two spots still up for grabs.
RYBAKINA EASES PAST TOMLJANOVIC
Rybakina also remained in contention for a place at the WTA Finals, as she landed seven aces while a struggling Tomljanovic made nine double faults.
Former Wimbledon champion Rybakina has now won 50 matches on the tour this year and qualified for seven semifinals.
Dominant display 💪
— wta (@WTA) October 17, 2025
Elena Rybakina puts in a clinical performance to win in straight sets against Tomljanovic and set up a semifinal against Paolini.#NingboOpen pic.twitter.com/pwvT2hf6AS
"Of course, it would be nice to qualify (for the WTA Finals). But I know for this I still need to win a lot of matches. Not only here, but also next week," Rybakina said.
"Today I think I served well. It’s not easy to play Ajla. Today a lot of things went my way. Also some lines which I caught. Overall, happy I won in straight sets. Looking forward to tomorrow."
Fourth seed Ekaterina Alexandrova brushed aside American McCartney Kessler 6-3 6-3 to set up a last-four clash with fellow Russian and seventh seed Diana Shnaider, who beat local favourite Zhu Lin 2-6 6-3 6-1 later on Friday.