Andreeva Beats Bartůňková to Reach Beijing Final

Mirra Andreeva of Russia beat Nikola Bartůňková of the Czech Republic 6⁠–⁠2, 6⁠–⁠2 on Saturday, 10 October, to reach the final of the China Open in Beijing (WTA; AFP via Flashscore). The China Open is one of the women's tour's WTA 1000 events, the top level below the four Grand Slam tournaments.

Andreeva, 19, is the French Open champion and is ranked fifth in the world (AFP via Flashscore). She is the No. 4 seed, meaning the organisers ranked her fourth among the players in the draw, and the highest-seeded player left after upsets removed Elena Rybakina, Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff (AFP via Flashscore). It is her first final in Beijing (WTA).

Bartůňková, 20, is ranked 34th and was the No. 26 seed (AFP via Flashscore; WTA). She beat Sabalenka and Karolína Muchová on her way to the semi-finals (Tennishead).

Andreeva took control at once. She led 4⁠–⁠0 in the first set, with Bartůňková serving two double faults, missing both of her serves on a point, before losing the fourth game (AFP via Flashscore). Bartůňková saved the first match point, the point that would win Andreeva the match, but Andreeva won on the second (AFP via Flashscore). The match lasted 74 minutes (AFP via Flashscore; WTA).

The WTA's figures show how clean it was. Andreeva hit 16 winners, shots her opponent could not reach, and made only 10 unforced errors, mistakes not caused by her opponent's shot (WTA). She turned five of her 10 break points, chances to win a game on Bartůňková's serve, into breaks (WTA). The WTA said she leads the tour this season in break points converted, and Andreeva said the extra work on her return of serve had been the idea of her coach, Conchita Martínez (WTA).

"I wanted to play aggressive today," Andreeva said on court. She said Bartůňková was a tricky opponent who "has a great serve, she has amazing touch, and she likes to move the ball around," adding that "sometimes she manages to hit rockets out of nowhere" (Tennishead). "I really tried to be brave no matter what," she said (Tennishead). Before matches, she said, she and Martínez, the 1994 Wimbledon champion, play the card game Uno to calm her nerves (Tennishead; AFP via Flashscore).

It was Andreeva's 50th match win of the season, level with Jessica Pegula for the most on the tour, and it will lift her to a career-best third in the world rankings next week (WTA). A day earlier she had secured a place in the WTA Finals, the tour's season-ending event (WTA). Sunday's final will be her fifth of the season, tying Rybakina, Sabalenka and Pegula for the most on the tour this year (WTA).

It is also her second final this season at this level. She won her first two WTA 1000 titles in Dubai and Indian Wells in 2025, and lost this year's Madrid final to Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine (Tennishead).

In Sunday's final she plays Zheng Qinwen of China, a former world No. 4, who beat Elise Mertens of Belgium, the No. 13 seed, 7⁠–⁠5, 6⁠–⁠2 in Saturday's second semi-final (ESPN; Tennis.com; WTA). Zheng entered the tournament as a wildcard, meaning the organisers gave her a place in the draw (Tennis.com; AFP via France 24). Andreeva lost her only previous match against Zheng (WTA; Tennishead). "I think no matter who's going to win, it's going to be tough," Andreeva said after her own semi-final, before Zheng and Mertens played (WTA). ESPN lists the final for Sunday, 11 October, at 7:30 p.m. in Beijing, which is 7:30 a.m. ET (ESPN).