The duo of Kazakhstan's Zhibek Kulambaeva and Armenia's Alina Charaeva, ranked 174th and 862nd in the world respectively, sensationally advanced to the final of the Unicredit Iasi Open in Iasi, Romania. In the semifinals, they defeated the top-seeded pair of Belgium's Magali Kempen (world No. 52) and Russia's Alexandra Panova (No. 38) 6:4, 7:6 (7:3), reports infohub.kz.
The victory of the Kazakh-Armenian tandem can be largely attributed to the element of surprise. The 26-year-old Kulambaeva and 24-year-old Charaeva are not newcomers to tennis, but they are little known on the tour and had never advanced this far in a WTA 250 tournament before.
The experience of the 37-year-old Panova and 26-year-old Kempen could not help them counter the mature play of their opponents. Kulambaeva, a doubles specialist, and Charaeva, a singles player training in Spain, complemented each other effectively.
In the first set, Kulambaeva and Charaeva led 5-1 but relaxed slightly, allowing their opponents to close the gap. Nevertheless, they took the tenth game and the set 6-4. In the second set, Charaeva served for the match, but Kempen and Panova broke her serve at love to level at 5-5. The set was decided in a tiebreak, where the pair from Almaty and Samara prevailed. The match lasted 1 hour 50 minutes, with a total points tally of 73-66.
Kulambaeva and Charaeva's opponents in the final will be determined later that evening.
Earlier, Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva (world No. 82) exited the tournament in Iasi, losing a three-hour match in 30-degree Celsius heat to Egypt's Mayar Sherif (No. 97) 2:6, 6:3, 6:7 (5:7).
The Unicredit Iasi Open was first held in 2022. In 2025, the clay-court tournament in Iasi replaced the Hungarian Grand Prix on the WTA calendar and was upgraded to a WTA 250 event. Local players have won the singles title three times, except in 2024 when young Russian Mirra Andreeva triumphed. The doubles title that year was won by the pair of Anna Danilina (Kazakhstan) and Irina Khromacheva (Russia).
The prize fund for the 2026 Unicredit Iasi Open is $283,350. The top seed, Romania's Jaqueline Cristian (world No. 37), withdrew from the tournament at the last moment, and her spot in the draw was taken by Putintseva.