Kasatkina saves 3 match points to beat Muguruza

Day Five in Dubai was semi final time, and first up was second seed Garbine Muguruza, aiming to keep Daria Kasatkina at bay.

No one was surprised that the young Russian contributed a competitive first set, only broken the once in losing 3-6 to Muguruza.

Kasatkina had four break points but could not convert any.

The Spanish backhand was particularly damaging.

Set two was looking good for the second seed after she broke the Kasatkina serve in the seventh game for a 4-3 lead.

This led to three more successive service breaks, including that of Muguruza trying to serve it out at 5-4.

The tie break came when both players finally held and an amazing tie break it was.

Three match points came the Spanish way, at 8-7, 9-8 and 10-9.

However the fighting spirit of Kasatkina prevailed and she won 13-11 and the match was level at a set all 3-6 7-6(11).

Set three was a disaster for Muguruza, dropping serve in her first two attempts. Kasatkina broke for a third time, taking the match 3-6 7-6(11) 6-1.

This was the first win by Kasatkina over the world number three and now she will meet top seed and defending champion Elina Svitolina in the final.

Svitolina defeated sixth seed Angie Kerber 6-3 6-3, to improve the head to head record to 5-0.

Rio de Janeiro:

Quarter finals 

Diego Schwartzman (6) defeated Gael Monfils 6-3 6-4

He will play Nicolas Jarry in the semis

Nicolas Jarry defeated Pablo Cuevas (7) 7-5 6-3

Fabio Fognini (5) defeated Aljaz Bedene 6-7(3) 6-3 6-1

He will play Fernando Verdasco in the semis

Fernando Verdasco (8) defeated Dominic Thiem (2) 6-4 6-0

Marseille:

Quarter finals 

Karen Khachanov (9) defeated Julien Benneteau 6-4 6-4

He will play Tomas Berdych in the semis

Tomas Berdych (4) defeated Damir Dzumhur (7) 7-6(4) 0-0 (retired)

Lucas Pouille (3) defeated Filip Krajinovic (8) 7-6(5) 3-6 6-4

He will play Ilya Ivashka in the semis

Qualifier Ilya Ivashka defeated Nicolas Mahut 4-6 6-3 7-5

Delray Beach:

Quarter finals 

Peter Gojowczyk defeated wildcard Reilly Opelka 7-6(5) 6-3

He will play Steve Johnson in the semis

Steve Johnson defeated Evgeny Donskoy 6-1 6-4

Denis Shapovalov defeated Taylor Fritz 7-5 6-4

He will play the winner of Frances Tiafoe and Hyeon Chung in the semis

Frances Tiafoe leads Hyeon Chung 5-7 6-4 5-3 (40-40) (Chung serving) with rain preventing the end of the match until tomorrow

Budapest:

Quarter finals 

Dominika Cibulková (1) defeated Johanna Larsson 6-3 6-2

She will play Mona Barthel in the semis

Mona Barthel defeated qualifier Ysaline Bonaventure 6-3 6-4

Lucky loser in qualifying Viktoria Kuzmova defeated Petra Martic 6-4 6-2

She will play Alison Van Uytvanck in the semis

Alison Van Uytvanck defeated Shuai Zhang (2) 6-2 6-4