Rybakina cruises past Kasatkina to win in Abu Dhabi

Elena Rybakina claimed her second title of the season with a dominant 6-1 6-4 victory over Daria Kasatkina in the Abu Dhabi Open final.

The Kazakhstan player got the job done in a mere one hour and 11 minutes to claim her seventh career title, after also overcoming Danielle Collins, Cristina Bucsa and Liudmila Samsonova en route to victory.

Despite the comprehensive defeat, Kasatkina has made a promising start to the season after playing in her second final at Abu Dhabi.

Kasatkina surrendered her serve in only the second game, but broke back immediately to halve the deficit at 2-1.

However, the world No.14 failed to hold a single service game amid 16 unforced errors in a chastening first set which Rybakina claimed in 25 minutes.

The world No. 5 showed no signs of slowing down, breaking Kasatkina for a fourth time in the match to go 2-1 ahead in the second set.

That prompted somewhat of a revival for Kasatkina, who twice managed to break through Rybakina’s serve and would draw level at 4-4.

But any hopes of this match going into a third-set were quashed, as Rybakina showcased the best of her returning game to move 5-4 ahead after breaking the Russian for a fifth time.

Following a brief rain delay with the score at 30-30 in the 10th game, the 2022 Wimbledon champion served out for the match to secure a dominant victory.

Elsewhere, Sofia Kenin and Bethanie Mattek-Sands won the doubles title with a 6-4 7-6(4) win over Linda Noskova and Heather Watson.

This was Kenin’s third doubles title and a first since winning alongside Mattek-Sands in Beijing five years ago.