The WTA 500 Abu Dhabi Women's Singles semi-finals were unveiled, with defending champion and top seed Rybakina beating Tunisia's Jabbar 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(4) to make it six straight wins in Abu Dhabi. It was the sixth meeting between the two and with the win, Rybakina leveled her head-to-head record with Jabbar at 3-3.

Rybakina data map

The two sides won one each in the first two sets with a more dominant performance, with Rybakina breaking first in the sixth game, but Jabbar then broke back, and then the scores went up alternately to go to a tie-break, with Rybakina winning five points in a row after 3-5.

'It was a very tough match, she [Abdul-Jabbar] was fantastic, we were very close, every game was intense and I'm happy to have won." Rybakina said after the game.

Kazakhstan's semi-final opponent will be Swiss Bencic, who defeated former Wimbledon champion Vondrousova 7-5, 6-3 to reach her first tour semi-final since April 2023. With the semi-finals of the Women's Singles at this tournament, Bencic has confirmed that he will move up to the top 120 next week.

In the lower half of the Women's Singles, two dark horses broke through, with American Kruger beating eighth seed Fernandez 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 in the quarter-finals in a match that lasted two hours and 24 minutes. The 20-year-old reached her first tour semi-final since Osaka 2023 and reached her first WTA 500 semi-final, where she will face her age Noskova, who defeated Linette 6-4, 6-3.

(Text, Editor/Faye Wong, Photo/Visual China)