Mirra Andreeva has continued her rise to stardom by reaching the final of the Dubai Tennis Championships.
The Russian beat world number seven Elena Rybakina 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 on Friday.
Andreeva sealed victory by winning five games in a row to come back from 3-1 down in the deciding set.
She will now face Clara Tauson on Saturday having become the youngest-ever WTA 1000 finalist.
At 17-year-old she is also only the third teenager to reach the final of a WTA 1000 finals since the format was introduced in 2009.
Andreeva follows in the footsteps of Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff by doing so.
Meanwhile, she is the youngest player since Maria Sharapova in 2004 to beat three Grand Slam champions in a single tournament.
The semi-final victory over Rybakina followed wins over Swiatek and Marketa Vondrousova in Dubai.
Andreeva, who does not turn 18 until April, now has the chance to pick up her second career title.
She is already guaranteed to climb to 11th in the world rankings by beating Tauson tomorrow.
However, she will move into the top 10 by claiming the title, in turn becoming the youngest player to do so since 2007.
Speaking after beating Rybakina, Andreeva explained: “Honestly, after playing in Doha and losing tough second round, having a lot of opportunities, I just felt a bit down.
“Not depressed. I was, ‘Well, maybe now this time I’m not playing my best tennis, so OK, it’s fine.’
“Last year I didn’t play so good on these courts in Dubai. I was like, ‘Well, OK, whatever. I’m just going to play. We’re going to see.’
“In the end when you don’t think about what’s going to happen, it always ends up being one of the best tournaments of your career. I don’t know if it’s a paradox or something, but it’s just like this.”
Andreeva was beaten in the opening round by Rebecca Sramkova at the Qatar Open last week.
It followed a run to the last 16 of the Australian Open in January, where she was beaten by top seed Aryna Sabalenka.
As well as her previous WTA title in Romania last July, Andreeva is also already an Olympic medalist.
She won silver alongside Diana Shnaider in the women’s doubles at the Paris Games, losing to Italy’s Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in the final.
