Amanda Anisimova booked her spot in the semi-finals of the Dubai Tennis Championships after defeating reigning champion Mirra Andreeva in a thrilling contest.

Last year's Wimbledon and US Open runner-up came back from a set down to win 2-6 7-5 7-6 (7-4) in a two-hour-and-39-minute encounter.

Andreeva wasted little time in finding her rhythm, breaking Anisimova's serve in the opening game on her way to taking a 4-1 lead in the first set.

The pair then exchanged breaks before Andreeva saw out the opener, though the struggles on serve continued in the second set.

Back-to-back breaks for Anisimova, followed by another in the 12th game, saw her force a deciding set, despite Andreeva also converting two break points of her own.

And it was the same story in the third. The set started with three consecutive breaks of serve, two going in favour of Andreeva, who was then broken twice to give Anisimova a chance to serve out the match.

The second seed brought up a match-point opportunity, but she failed to clinch victory before two further breaks of serve saw the third set go to a tie-break.

Anisimova, however, made sure she would not rue her missed chance to win it, cruising to a 7-4 win in the tie-break.

She will face a fellow American in the semi-final after Jessica Pegula defeated Clara Tauson 6-3 2-6 6-4 earlier on Thursday.

4/4 - Amanda Anisimova is the first American to reach each of her first four Tier I / WTA-1000 semi-finals at events outside the United States () since the format’s introduction in 1990. Traveller.#DDFTennis | @DDFTennis @WTA pic.twitter.com/ohwmusVRQp

— OptaAce (@OptaAce) February 19, 2026

Data Debrief: Anisimova dethrones another

Since the format’s introduction in 2009, only Svetlana Kuznetsova has more wins against reigning champions at WTA-1000 events than Anisimova (also defeating Aryna Sabalenka in Madrid 2022 and Coco Gauff in Beijing 2025).

Anisimova is also the first American to reach each of her first four Tier I/WTA-1000 semi-finals outside the United States since the format's introduction in 1990.

Pegula, meanwhile, is the first player to reach the semi-final at seven consecutive WTA-level events since Agnieszka Radwanska (between Beijing 2015 and Indian Wells 2016).