Elena Rybakina Sweeps Past Daria Kasatkina To Win Abu Dhabi Open Title

Top-seeded Elena Rybakina secured her second title of the season with a smooth 6-1, 6-4 victory over Daria Kasatkina at the Abu Dhabi Open on Sunday. The world number five, who started the year with a title in Brisbane, added a seventh trophy to her resume and is now joint-second on the match-wins leaderboard with 11 victories to her name in 2024. Light rain provided some late drama as it briefly interrupted the final game of the contest, with players instructed to wait on their benches with Rybakina leading 6-1, 5-4, 30/30.   It was only a short delay though as the 2022 Wimbledon champion closed out the win with two good serves on the 68-minute mark.

"First I want to congratulate Daria of course with a great week, congrats to you and the team," Russian-born Kazakh Rybakina said in her victory speech. 

"Tough week, especially last matches, and tomorrow is already a match in Doha, so hopefully we both recover and we do well there and maybe play the final there."

Rybakina struck first but double-faulted to hand Kasatkina the break back. 

Kasatkina returned the favour immediately, double-faulting to drop serve once again and the Russian failed to win another game in that set as Rybakina secured the set 6-1 in 24 minutes.

Kasatkina hit just two winners in that set, against a whopping 16 unforced errors, and her double-fault count was mounting as she struggled with the windy conditions.

The second set was a more competitive affair but Rybakina's power game ultimately made the difference with Kasatkina clearly feeling the after effects of the taxing three-hour semi-final she played against Beatriz Haddad Maia the previous evening.

Kasatkina has now lost her last four consecutive finals –- including two this year in Adelaide