World No 5 Elena Rybakina captured the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open title with a ruthless straight-sets victory against Daria Kasatkina.
Former Wimbledon champion Rybakina sealed her seventh career title on the WTA Tour and fourth on a hard court as she eased past world No 14 Kasatkina 6-1 6-4.
The Moscow-born Kazakh enjoyed a winning week in Abu Dhabi, which included victories over Danielle Collins, Cristina Bucsa and No 8 seed Liudmila Samsonova before crushing the hopes of Kasatkina in the final.
The victory propelled Rybakina to 11-2 on the season, having won her first title of the year in Brisbane last month, and now she will head to Doha for the opening WTA 1000 tournament of the season at the Qatar Open.
“A tough week, especially the last matches, and tomorrow is already a match in Doha [for Kasatkina],” Rybakina said.
“Hopefully we both recover and do well there and maybe play the final there.
“I want to thank all the fans who came to support us. It’s been an amazing atmosphere and especially to see the flags from Kazakhstan it really means a lot.”
Kasatkina was coming off a three-hour marathon to edge past Beatriz Haddad Maia in the semi-finals and it showed in the opening set as Rybakina raced through it, aided in part by 16 unforced errors from her opponent.
Despite falling a break down in the next Kasatkina threw caution to the wind and reeled in Rybakina to level at 4-4.
But Rybakina upped the tempo and a blistering return game enabled her to break in the next before serving out for a comprehensive victory following a brief rain interruption.
Runner-up Kasatkina said: “To lose finals is not a nice thing but as Daniil Medvedev said after Australian Open, it’s better to play three finals than to lose three first rounds. So I’ll take that. It’s his birthday today by the way, happy birthday.”
Earlier in the day, it was not to be for Heather Watson as Sofia Kenin and Bethanie Mattek-Sands took home the doubles title, defeating the Brit and Linda Noskova 6-4 7-6 (7-4) in the final.
Pliskova wins Transylvania Open
Karolina Pliskova claimed her first WTA title in four years
Czech Karolina Pliskova upset home favourite Ana Bogdan, the eighth seed, 6-4 6-3 to win her first title in four years in the final in Cluj-Napoca.
Former world No 1 Pliskova, who had not reached a tour singles final since August 2021 in Montreal, converted four of her 11 break chances and won 78 per cent of points on her first serve.
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