Ninth seed Muguruza beat Belgium’s Elise Mertens, the 10^th seed, in two tight sets 6-4 7-6 to book her place in the showpiece match at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium.

In a match that lasted more than two hours, Muguruza claimed her 17^th win of the season and reached her third final of the year.

It took the Spaniard seven match points before she could close out victory in a contest that she described as "tough" and "physical."

The second semi-final saw two unseeded players go head-to-head, with Krejcikova beating Switzerland’s Jil Teichmann 7-5 6-2.

World ranked number 63 Krejcikova triumphed on her third match point and described the opportunity to play double Grand Slam champion Muguruza in the final as an "amazing experience."

The last four encounters also took place in the doubles competition with eighth seeds Alexa Guarachi of Chile and Darija Jurak of Croatia beating American wildcards Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Jessica Pegula 6-4 6-3.

In the second doubles semi-final, fifth seeds Timea Babos of Hungary and Veronika Kudermetova of Russia were knocked out by Chinese pair Xu Yifan and Yang Zhaoxuan 6-3 7-5.