Daria Kasatkina of Russia returns a shot to Emma Raducanu of Britain during their quarterfinal match of the Korea Open tennis championships in Seoul, Sept. 21. AP-Yonhap

The top seed Daria Kasatkina has reached the final of the Korea Open tennis tournament.

Kasatkina, world No. 13 from Russia, defeated countrywoman Diana Shnaider 6-3, 6-4 in the semifinals of the lone WTA event in Korea at Olympic Park Tennis Center in Seoul on Saturday.

In Sunday's final, Kasatkina will face Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil, No. 3 seed and world No. 17. Haddad Maia knocked off Veronika Kudermetova of Russia in the semifinals 6-4, 6-4.

This will be Kasatkina's fifth final of the season. She has one title this season and seven titles overall.

Haddad Maia will go for her first title of the season and her fourth overall.

Haddad Maia holds a 2-1 edge in three meetings against Kasatkina, but in their most recent meeting, the Russian beat the Brazilian in three sets in the semifinals in Abu Dhabi in February.

With all Friday matches washed out by rain in Seoul, players had to play in the quarterfinals early Saturday afternoon and then the four winners played their semifinal matches later the same day.

In the quarterfinals, Haddad Maia defeated Veronika Kudermetova's sister, Polina, 6-2, 6-1.

Kasatkina faced Emma Raducanu of Britain, the 2021 U.S. Open champion and a crowd favorite in Seoul, in the quarterfinals. The marquee match of the quarterfinals ended in just half an hour as Raducanu, after dropping the first set 6-1, retired due to a foot injury.

The Korea Open, the only WTA event held in South Korea each fall, has been elevated from WTA 250, the lowest level of tour events, to WTA 500 for this year, meaning the champion will earn 500 world ranking points. The purse has been raised from about $260,000 to $1 million.

Kasatkina became the top seed here after four top-10 players — No. 1 Iga Swiatek, No. 3 Jessica Pegula, No. 4 Elena Rybakina and No. 8 Emma Navarro — pulled out for health and scheduling reasons. (Yonhap)