Mirra Andreeva needed one hour and 14 minutes to brush aside Nikola Bartunkova 6-2, 6-2 at the China Open on Saturday. The straight-sets victory sent her into Sunday’s final against home favourite Zheng Qinwen and carried her past a round number that frames the whole year.
The win was Andreeva’s 50th on the WTA Tour in 2026. That makes the 19-year-old the youngest player to reach 50 match wins in a season since Caroline Wozniacki in 2009, according to the WTA. The Dane finished that season 67-24 at the age of 19 and ended the year ranked inside the top five.
Andreeva now ties Jessica Pegula for the most match wins on tour in 2026. The result also lifts her to a career-high World No. 3 in next week’s rankings and makes her the youngest China Open finalist since 18-year-old Agnes Szavay collected the 2007 title.
A season of finals
Beijing is Andreeva’s fifth final of 2026, matching Elena Rybakina, Aryna Sabalenka and Pegula for the most finals on tour this year. Three of the previous four ended with the trophy: Adelaide and Linz earlier in the season, then Roland Garros in June, where she beat Maja Chwalinska in the Paris final. The one she lost was Madrid, where Marta Kostyuk beat her 6-3, 7-5.
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Her Beijing week was built on routine wins over Yuan Yue, Polina Kudermetova and Daria Snigur, before a tighter quarterfinal against Ekaterina Alexandrova that went 7-6(4), 7-6(3). Bartunkova, the No. 26 seed, offered no such resistance.
“I feel like every match, I was feeling better and better physically and mentally with the way I was playing,” Andreeva said.
“I’m very happy and excited to be in the finals. I think I played very good today.”
Zheng, first Chinese finalist in Beijing
Zheng Qinwen reached the final with a 7-5, 6-2 win over 13th seed Elise Mertens, becoming the first Chinese player to reach the China Open final since the tournament began in 2004. She entered the draw as a wild card and is chasing her first WTA title since Tokyo in 2024.
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Head-to-head, Zheng leads 1-0. Their only previous meeting came in Beijing two years ago, when Zheng won a quarterfinal 5-7, 6-0, 6-4.
“Tomorrow is going to be a hard battle. I’m a tough player, and she’s an equally tough opponent,” Zheng said.
Prize money and a WTA Finals spot already secured
The final is scheduled for no earlier than 7:30pm local time on Sunday, following the doubles final at 4:30pm local time. The winner collects $1,151,380 and 1,000 ranking points; the runner-up takes $612,340 and 650 points. Andreeva has already qualified for the season-ending WTA Finals.
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