Mirra Andreeva has stormed into the Madrid Open final for the first time in her career, overcoming American Hailey Baptiste in a tense semifinal clash on Thursday afternoon. The top remaining seed in the draw battled past the 30th seed with a 6-4, 7-6 victory inside Caja Magica, setting up a title match against either Anastasia Potapova or Marta Kostyuk on Saturday—a showdown that promises plenty of intrigue beyond the main storylines.

But this wasn't a straightforward win for the teenager. Midway through the opening set, Andreeva found herself locked in a heated exchange with the umpire over a controversial line call that left her visibly frustrated. At 2-2 in the second set, Baptiste rifled a forehand winner that appeared to clip the baseline. Andreeva immediately questioned the Electronic Line Call system, arguing there was a clear gap between the ball mark and the line. The umpire's system showed green, indicating the ball was in, but Hawkeye—available to TV viewers but not players on court—later confirmed Baptiste's shot was indeed good.

Without access to that replay, Andreeva walked over to umpire Kader Nouni to plead her case. "You know how it works, right? You know how it works," Nouni responded. "Unfortunately I had the green light. It is what it is. Now we have to go for it." Andreeva shot back: "So even if you see that it's out you cannot overrule?" Nouni replied, "Exactly. First of all I haven't seen this one out." The Russian gestured with her hands to show what she believed was a wide margin, adding, "But this is not even like this [close], this is like that [gestures large gap]." Nouni countered: "Yeah but between the ball and the mark there is a difference."

The game resumed after Andreeva returned to her side of the court, but she brought up her concerns again during a changeover. This isn't the first time the electronic system has sparked controversy in Madrid. Earlier in the tournament, Elena Rybakina raised similar issues during her match against Qinwen Zheng, telling a tournament official, "The system is wrong, this is not a joke." She added, "Well with this thing..."—a sentiment that clearly resonated with Andreeva as she marches into her first Madrid final.