\n<\/p>\n
No. 2 seed Amanda Anisimova meets No. 4 Jessica Pegula (5 p.m. local time, 8 a.m. ET), followed by No. 3 Coco Gauff against No. 7 Elina Svitolina — a Top 10 player herself. The winners will play Saturday to determine the champion of the season\u2019s second WTA 1000 event.<\/p>\n
If these seem like familiar matchups, it\u2019s not your imagination. Both semifinals are rematches from the 2026 Australian Open quarterfinals played less than one month ago.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a closer look at Friday\u2019s action from the Aviation Club Tennis Centre.<\/p>\n
No. 3 Coco Gauff vs. No. 7 seed Elina Svitolina<\/strong><\/p>\n Head-to-head: <\/strong>2-2.<\/p>\n After an impressive 6-0, 6-2 winner over Alexandra Eala, Gauff admitted she was surprised to be in Dubai\u2019s final four.<\/p>\n \u201cBut sometimes one match can change everything,\u201d she said in her on-court interview.<\/p>\n Indeed, Gauff has a history of winning matches, even when not playing her best. She had been scuffling, losing her first match in Doha to lucky loser Elisabetta Cocciaretto and saving three match points against Elise Mertens in Dubai\u2019s round of 16.<\/p>\n Gauff\u2019s serve remains a work in progress. She had 16 double faults against Mertens and, with 36, the most in this event. Gauff was better against Eala, with eight, but this still bears watching. While her serve and forehand have been under scrutiny, Gauff\u2019s defense and serve return have been terrific.\u00a0<\/p>\n She broke Eala six times and has won a tournament-high 19 break points. Gauff\u2019s relentless retrieving led to 33 unforced errors by Eala, many of them mistakes tied to frustration.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Svitolina came back to defeat lucky loser Antonia Ruzic 3-6, 6-2, 6-3. The 31-year-old from Ukraine saved 11 of 14 break points against her and scored five service breaks against Ruzic.<\/p>\n Svitolina is a two-time Dubai champion, winning the title in 2017 and 2018.<\/p>\n \u201cI have great memories,\u201d she said in her on-court interview. \u201cComing back to this special place, I\u2019m really, really pleased to be in the semifinals again.\u201d<\/p>\n Svitolina doubtless has great memories of her most recent match against Gauff — 24 days ago — 6-1, 6-2 in Melbourne.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cShe played well that match, she definitely did, but I also feel like I beat myself up a little bit,\u201d Gauff said. \u201cI can learn from that when I’m maybe starting the match off slow, how to combat that.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like these last couple matches I haven’t started off the best and was able to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n Gauff will need to clean up her serve. She won only 41 percent of her first-serve points, compared to 71 percent for Svitolina.<\/p>\n No. 2 Amanda Anisimova vs. No. 4 Jessica Pegula<\/strong><\/p>\n Head-to-head: <\/strong>4-0, Pegula.<\/p>\n That head-to-head record might be deceptive because three of those matches came before last year\u2019s breakthrough that saw Anisimova reach back-to-back Grand Slam finals. Their last match came a little over three weeks ago, and Pegula needed a tiebreak to prevail 6-2, 7-6 (1).<\/p>\n “Just played her in Australia — I’ve played her many times,\u201d Pegula told reporters. \u201cWe have had a lot of really close matches. It will be interesting to see.\u201d<\/p>\n