Daria Kasatkina wins marathon match to reach Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open final

Daria Kasatkina edged out Beatriz Haddad Maia to reach the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open final. Pawan Singh / The National

Daria Kasatkina is one win away from her seventh WTA Tour title after coming through a gruelling semi-final at the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open on Saturday.

In a match that lasted one minute short of three hours, the Russian seventh seed defeated Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 to book her place in the final.

When Kasatkina strode into a 2-0 lead in the second set after comfortably winning the first, few would have expected the match to unfold the way it did. Credit for that must go to sixth seed Haddad Maia, who dug deep to halt the Russian’s momentum, winning three straight games to establish a 4-2 lead – an advantage she maintained for the rest of the set as both players held firm on serve.

The Brazilian was in the ascendancy and she twice led by a single break in a dramatic deciding set, first for 2-0 and then for 3-2. Now it was Kasatkina’s turn to grind her way back into the contest, and she did exactly that to level in the next game.

As the tension rose, both players had their opportunities to break serve at critical moments. First, Kasatkina saw three break points come and go at 4-3 – which would have given her the opportunity to serve for the match – before Haddad Maia had two of her own in the next game.

Kasatkina then had to fend off two more break points when serving at 5-5, before the match ultimately went to the tiebreak. There, it was world No 14 Kasatkina who assumed control, racing into a 6-2 lead and clinching the victory on her first match point.

Competing in her 15th WTA Tour final, Kasatkina will face either Kazakh top seed Elena Rybakina or compatriot Liudmila Samsonova, seeded eighth.

If she is to claim her first title since August 2022, Kasatkina will need to reverse her recent trend in finals; the Russian has lost each of the last three without winning a set.