Elena Rybakina to face Daria Kasatkina in Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open final

Top seed Elena Rybakina will take on Russia's Daria Kasatkina in the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open final after both players came through tough matches on Saturday.

After seventh seed Kasatkina needed almost three hours to get past Brazil's Beatriz Haddad Maia in the first semi-final 6-3, 4-6, 7-6; Rybakina had to hold off a spirited fightback from 2022 finalist Liudmila Samsonova to come through her last-four match 6-0, 4-6, 6-2.

Both Rybakina and Kasatkina will be contesting their second finals of the season; the Kazakh world No 5 opened her 2024 campaign by winning the Brisbane International, while world No 14 Kasatkina reached the title match in Adelaide.

Based on past meetings, there is nothing between Rybakina and Kasatkina, who share two wins each from their previous four matches, although the top seed did win their one meeting in Abu Dhabi back in 2021.

"We've played each other a few times and it was always tough," Rybakina, 24, said of her final opponent. "Especially in these conditions, it is a little bit slow, so it won't be easy. [Kasatkina] has a completely different style to Liudmila so I will have to adapt quickly tomorrow, stay aggressive and have really good footwork."

Kasatkina was the first to book her place in the final and she needed to do it the hard way. When she held a 2-0 lead in the second set after winning the first set relatively comfortably, few would have expected the match to last two hours and 59 minutes.

But that's exactly what happened as Haddad Maia fought admirably to get herself back in the contest. The Brazilian dug deep when she most needed to, winning three straight games to establish a 4-2 lead in the second set – an advantage she maintained to level the match as both players held firm