The world No 8 Ratchanok eliminated the world No 2 21-15 21-12 in just 38 minutes, avenging her last two straight defeats to the Japanese last year in World Tour Finals in China and Hong Kong Open.

The Thai ace will play long-time rival Akane Yamaguchi who leads her 11-9 in their head-to-head record. The Thai however won their last meet in Hong Kong last year.

However, Thai duo Bodin Isara and Maneepong Jongjit had to retire during the men’s doubles semi-final match with top seeded Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda of Japan after losing the first game 11-21.

The 20-time Grand Slam winner claimed a record eighth trophy at the Aviation Club.

“I’m so happy I’m still playing. It’s been a long wonderful journey,” Federer said. “I’ve loved every minute. Winning 100 is an absolute dream come true.”

The Swiss second seed was untouchable throughout much of the 69-minute final as he gained revenge for his fourth-round Australian Open defeat by the 11th-ranked Greek youngster.

“It’s so special to win my eighth here combined with 100,” Federer said. “I had tough opponents all the way through — right up to Stefanos today.

“He’s already having a great career, the game is in good hands.”

Federer joins Jimmy Connors (109) as the only other man to have won 100 titles.

His 99th trophy came last October at his home event in Basel.

He missed out on his century at the Paris Masters, the ATP Finals and the Australian Open.

Tsitsipas, who will become the first Greek to ever reach the world’s top 10 on Monday, paid tribute to his opponent.

“I’ve been idolizing him since the age of 6… And now sharing the court, it’s even better,” the 20-year-old said.

“100 is just completely insane — I’d be happy with 100 wins. Seriously, I’m trying to get there.”

Federer had to work hard this week, winning in three sets over Philipp Kohlschreiber and Fernando Verdasco.

Tsitsipas saw the end of an eight-match winning streak as he arrived in the Gulf with the Marseille title from last weekend.

Federer broke in the opening game of the final, but had to battle to claim the opening set.

Tsitsipas saved three set points in the final game before Federer — who faced two break points — finished off the set as Tsitsipas returned wide.

In the second, a break in the penultimate game for 5-4 and a service hold a game later were enough as Tsitsipas put a forehand into the net.

Australia’s Kyrgios, the former world number 13 who has slipped to 72nd in the rankings, defeated Isner 7-5, 5-7, 7-6 (9/7), following victories over 17-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal and three-time Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka.

Kyrgios, 23, reached his first ATP final since capturing his fourth trophy in Brisbane in January 2018.

Second-seeded German Zverev powered into his first final of the year with a 7-6 (7/0), 6-3 victory over Britain’s Cameron Norrie.

Two nights after he saved three match points in a final-set tiebreaker against Nadal, Kyrgios converted his third match point with a drop shot from the baseline, sealing the win after two hours and 21 minutes.

He broke Isner in the penultimate game of the opening set, and Isner returned the favor late in the second. Neither mustered a break point in the third.

“I was just trying to take care of my serve, that’s really all you can do against John,” said Kyrgios, who had the edge on Isner in aces with 25 to the big-serving American’s 24.

The unpredictable Australian, who seemed rattled at times by hostile fans in his victories over Nadal and Wawrinka, played happily to the crowd on Friday.

“It’s insane,” he said. “One point they were cheering my name, another point they were booing me. It’s just entertainment.”

Zverev, 21, is playing just his second tournament of the year after crashing out of the fourth round of the Australian Open.

He hasn’t dropped a set all week, and was convincing against the 64th-ranked Norrie.

Unable to serve out the first set, Zverev raced through the tiebreaker and quickly seized a 3-0 lead in the second set, relying on a strong baseline game and 10 aces.

“It was very tough. It was pretty windy out here, not easy conditions, and his game actually I think fits the wind quite well, so it was not easy,” Zverev said. “I’m just happy to be through.”

In women’s semi-final action, China’s Wang Yafan ousted third-seeded Croatian Donna Vekic 2-6, 6-3, 6-1 to reach her first WTA Tour final.

She’ll face fifth-seeded American Sofia Kenin, who defeated Canadian Bianca Andreescu 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.

After dropping the first set Wang — 24 and ranked 65th in the world — squeaked through in a second set that featured just one hold of serve.

Although 28th-ranked Vekic converted all six of her break points against Wang, 39 unforced errors ultimately proved too much to overcome and Wang didn’t face a break point in the final set.

Kenin will be looking for her second title of 2019, having broken through for her first WTA crown at Hobart in January.

While several rivals had sniffed the lead only to shy away down the stretch, Ariya put her head down and got the job done, backing up three birdies on the front nine with three more in her run to the clubhouse to finish on an 11-under 205.

“I’ve been playing pretty good this week but one thing I have to keep doing [is] just focus on the things I can control,” said the 23-year-old Thai.

Ariya had no bogeys and no worries with the hard greens that troubled many at the Sentosa Golf Club this week — though a chance for a birdie and a two-shot break at the last hole went wide.

Australia’s world number three Minjee Lee -– one back after posting 67 on Saturday — could be the one to worry Ariya most come the final day of the $1.5 million LPGA tournament.

Both have been paired together each day of competition so far, with a final round catch-up on the horizon.

“She’s such a great golfer,” said Ariya of Lee. “I feel like she makes everything and plays so well the last three days.”

Lee, 22, has managed several birdie blitzes of her own on the course this week. But occasional bogies -– as on the par-three seventh and the par-four 11th on Saturday –- that have held her back so far.

Both times Lee left herself with too much work to do on the greens. The feeling is that if it all falls into place for Lee come Sunday, there just might be fireworks.

“I feel like I’m hitting it pretty solid,” she said.

“I probably hit a couple drives here and there that I sort of sprayed a little bit. So if I can get that straightened out and hole a couple more putts, then I think I’ll be alright.”

England’s Jodi Ewart Shadoff has quietly gone about her business in Singapore and sits alone in third overnight after a blemish-free round of her own.

Four birdies and a 68 leave the 31-year-old on nine-under and said afterwards she had warmed instantly to the speed of the greens.

“I like the pace,” she said. “[I’ll] just stay in the moment and not get ahead of myself.

“I’m striking the ball well and hitting a lot of fairways. As long as I stick to the task at hand, I’ll hopefully do well.”

A pack of four are tied for fourth, three strokes behind Jutanugarn on eight-under par.

Overnight leader Amy Olson was left to rue a double-bogey five on the fourth in a roller-coaster of a day that saw the American sign for a one-under 71.

It left her level with Spain’s Azahara Munoz (69) and the Korean pair of Kim Hyo-Joo (67) and Ko Jin-Young (66).

The 21-year-old rookie let slip of his overnight lead after stumbling with a third bogey of the day on 10. However, he gained a shot on 13 to get to even-par for the day and surmounted a late challenge by rallying back with two closing birdies on 17 and 18.

Murray’s solid drive down the middle of the fairway on the last would set up his 15-foot birdie and helped him regain his place atop the leaderboard with a three-day total of 17-under-par 198 at the NZ$1,250,000 (approx. US$850,000) event.

New Zealander Josh Geary raised the local cheers after matching the day’s lowest round of a 63 to move into second place on his own at the storied event, that is co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour and the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia.

Kodai Ichihara made his move by firing five birdies in his opening six holes but slipped back with a bogey on 12 and a double-bogey on 13. The amiable Japanese recovered brilliantly with three birdies on holes 14, 16 and 17 to settle for a 67 and a share of third place with his 201 total.

Thailand’s Poom Saksansin and Jazz Janewattananond, who leads the current Asian Tour Habitat for Humanity Standings, returned with respective rounds of 66 and 69 to head into the final round seven shots behind Murray in tied-12th position at The Hills.

A total of 152 professionals and 152 amateurs took part in the event where the first two rounds were alternated between the par-71 course at Millbrook Resort and the par-72 course at The Hills. The 62 players, who made the halfway cut on Friday, will compete in the final two rounds at The Hills.

Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson of Kirkland, Washington, United States is a mixed martial artist and 12-time Flyweight World Champion with a professional record of 27-3-1. With a highly-technical style and world-class skills, Johnson has dominated his division for the past seven years. During this span, Johnson captured the flyweight World Title and ran up a win streak of 13 bouts since 2012. Today, he is widely considered one of the best mixed martial artists in the world pound-for-pound. Johnson now looks to continue his legendary career in the world’s largest martial arts organization, ONE Championship.

Demetrious Johnson, ONE Athlete, stated: “I’ve been fighting for a very long time. I’ve been champion for six years. There’s no surprise that he (Yuya Wakamatsu) is going to look through my fights and look through my wins and losses, efficiencies and deficiencies. That’s what athletes do. But a fight is a fight. A lot of people, when I get into the ring or cage with them, the first thing they notice is my speed. I’m going to go out there, fight my butt off, use my heart, my technique, and my skill set, and go out there and take it to him.”

Known as “The Underground King”, multiple-time World Champion Eddie Alvarez of the United States is a mixed martial arts legend who has competed for the world’s top mixed martial arts promotions. The experience he has gathered over a stellar 15-year professional career so far is beyond impressive, with wins over some of the biggest names in the sport. Alvarez’ most notable victories have come against the likes of Roger Huerta, Shinya Aoki, Gilbert Melendez, Anthony Pettis, Rafael Dos Anjos, and most recently Justin Gaethje.

Eddie Alvarez, ONE Athlete, stated: “I’m not going to lie, I do research on my opponents. I’ve done the same for Timofey Nastyukhin. I know he beat Eduard Folayang, he beat Amir Khan, he beat some of the top guys in ONE Championship. He’s dangerous. He hits hard. He comes to fight and I accept the challenge. I want the most vicious, dangerous guys ONE Championship has to offer. I always show up, so I can’t wait.”

The extremely windy conditions at the Losail International Circuit on Friday caused difficulties throughout the day, but by the end of it, Sam Lowes (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) was second on the timesheets thanks to his second session time of 2:00.178, 0.402 from Binder’s P1 effort, and third quickest was Iker Lecuona (American Team KTM). His third session time of 2:00.201 means we saw the same top three that ended the Jerez Test in the first three positions in Qatar.

Jorge Navarro (+Ego Speed Up) sits fourth fastest after the opening day, the Spaniard 0.493 from Binder after setting his best time in session two, with compatriot Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) completing a top five covered by 0.653 after he improved in the last session on Friday. Just 0.015 behind Marquez is Tom Luthi (Dynavolt Intact GP), his 2:00.444 enough to put him sixth, while EG 0,0 Marc VDS’ Xavi Vierge ends Day 1 in seventh – both riders going quicker in the final session.

Eighth overall on Day 1 was Augusto Fernandez aboard his Flexbox Pons HP 40 Kalex, with his 2:00.638 enabling him to finish 0.009 ahead of both Luca Marini (SKY Racing Team VR46) and Marcel Schrötter (Dynavolt Intact GP) – both of whom set a 2:00.647 to complete the top ten.

In Moto3™, Tony Arbolino (Snipers Team) kicked off the final 2019 preseason test as the fastest rider after the Spaniard set a 2:07.753 to go 0.101 quicker than teammate Romano Fenati. The opening day at Losail International Circuit was seriously affected by strong winds in Doha, but in the end it was the two Snipers Team Honda riders who continued their strong winter testing form. Their nearest challenger was third placed Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Leopard Racing), 0.530 back from Arbolino, with his teammate Marcos Ramirez sitting fourth after Day 1 – and 0.560 splitting the top four.

Completing the top five was Honda Team Asia’s Kaito Toba, with sixth fastest Niccolo Antonelli (SIC58 Squadra Corse), the 2016 winner in Qatar, the only other rider to get within a second of Arbolino – 0.881 the deficit.

Ai Ogura’s (Honda Team Asia) 2:08.784 puts the Japanese rookie in seventh place on Friday, with less than a tenth separating him from eighth place Alonso Lopez (Estrella Galicia 0,0) and ninth quickest Kazuki Masaki (BOE Skull Rider Mugen Race), who was also the leading KTM rider. The only man in the top ten who failed to improve their time in the third and final session of the day was Gabriel Rodrigo (Kömmerling Gresini Moto3), the Argentine’s 2:08.926 set in session two.

The intermediate and lightweight classes will be back on track on Saturday for their penultimate day of preseason testing, keep up to date with Live Timing andresults on motogp.com.

The 20-time Grand Slam champion beat Croatian Borna Coric 6-2, 6-2, ending with an ace after just 67 minutes, in their Friday semi-final.

That put the 37-year-old into his tenth final in the emirate and 152nd of his career.

“I’m incredibly excited about the final,” said Federer.

Jimmy Connors holds the record for men on 109 titles although even that is a long way back from Martina Navratilova’s collection of 167 in the women’s game.

Federer, seven times a Dubai champion, will have a score to settle with final opponent Stefanos Tsitsipas, who booked his place in the championship match with a 4-6, 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/4) win over Gael Monfils.

The 11th-ranked Greek stunned Federer in the fourth round of the Australian Open in January in their only previous meeting.

Federer also gained revenge for two losses he took last season against Coric, who beat him in the Halle final on grass and at the Shanghai Masters semi-finals.

The Swiss star grabbed the opening set in 22 minutes and began the second with a break on the way to his comfortable win in blustery conditions.

“I’m very happy, it’s great to get to another final here,” Federer said.

“Borna played third-set tiebreakers in his last three matches, so he might have been tired.

“I was the guy who was able to take advantage of it. I’m incredibly excited about the final.”

Fifth-seed Tsitsipas will enter the top 10 of the world rankings for the first time in his career thanks to Friday’s win.

“I don’t know how I won,” said Tsitsipas. “I was playing relaxed today, enjoying every moment. “I was probably a bit more concentrated than usual. I didn’t want to give it to him.

“I was serving well and timed my returns. I had confidence going into the tiebreakers.

“I was not expecting much from myself, to be honest. I was just playing,.” said the winner, who said he came to the court with some minor back pain and feared he might not be able to finish.

For Monfils defeat brings to an end an eight-match winning streak and an entertaining run in Dubai that comes a fortnight after winning in Rotterdam.

Monfils won five games in a row to take the opening set after going down a break, but was pegged back in a tense second that Tsitsipas won on a tie-break.

The Frenchman could easily have won the match had he not let four break points slip when 4-3 up in the final set, while Tsitsipas had to recover from three double faults at 5-6 down to force the tie-break  from which he eventually won the match.

“I had some opportunities, I couldn’t make them great today,” said Monfils.

“I need to be better, that’s it. I need to be better to win those big matches.”

The two Thai fighters will be taking part in the first ever One tournament to be staged in Japan on a bill featuring a total of 16 bouts. It promises to be a momentous night for the One championship, with no less than four world titles on the bill.

The 33-year-old Yodsanklai, who won the WBC Muay Thai World super welterweight from 2005 to 2009, will square off against Dutch World Champion kickboxer Andy Souwer in the One Super Series kickboxing catchweight (72kg).

Yodsanklai is coming off a stunning performance in Kuala Lumpur at One: Destiny of Champions in December, when the martial arts veteran finished opponent Luis Regis with three rapid-fire uppercuts that drew a chorus of cheers from the crowd.

“I am honored and excited to be part of ONE Championship’s first-ever show in Tokyo, Japan, a country with a rich background and love for martial arts. More importantly, I have the opportunity to avenge a previous loss to Andy Souwer, and I get to do it in front of the Japanese fans. I promise to deliver an exciting performance for everyone there,” said Yodsanklai who lost to Souwer in a kickboxing bout 11 years ago.

Souwer, on the other hand, is one of the most internationally-renowned striking superstars ever to emerge from the Netherlands and is a two-time K1 World MAX World Champion (2005 and 2007) and a It’s Showtime 70MAX World Champion in 2012.

Rodtang “Iron Man” Jitmuangnon is one of the most recognisable names in the world of muay thai, capturing the world title twice, in 2016 and 2017.

The 21-year-old has beaten some of Thailand’s biggest names and is known for his exciting “muay mat” style, which focuses on the combatant constantly taking the initiative and looking to connect with devastating strikes that inflict maximum damage.

Following his two impressive performances on the One Super Series stage, including Conquest of Heroes in Jakarta where he beat Sergio Wielzen of Suriname, Rodtang is eyeing up a possible world title shot by testing his mettle against two-time world champion Hakim Hamech of France.

“To be able to compete in One Championships is not an experience that every fighter can have. This means a lot to me because they believe in my talent as an athlete. I’m really happy and I promise that I won’t disappoint the Japanese fans on March 31st,” Rodtang said.

Hamech, who won the WBC muay thai featherweight in 201, made quite an impression in his One Super Series debut in September 2018, scoring an emphatic first-round knockout victory over Japan’s Yukinori Ogasawara.

In the main event of One: A New Era, reigning lightweight world champion Eduard “Landslide” Folayang of the Philippines is set to face Japanese martial arts legend and former world champion Shinya “Tobikan Judan” Aoki of Japan in a long-awaited rematch.

In November 2016, Folayang captured the lightweight world title from Aoki via a third-round TKO but surrendered the belt to Martin Nguyen a year later. Last November, Nguyen vacated the title and the Filipino reclaimed the crown with a dominant five-round unanimous decision over Singaporean knockout artist Amir Khan.

Meanwhile, Aoki is riding a three-bout win streak, having finished Rasul Yakhyaev and Ev Ting by submission, and stopping Shannon Wiratchai by TKO. These three wins have elevated the Japanese icon to another shot at the One lightweight world title, as well as a chance to defeat his former conqueror.

There will be a trio of co-main events in Japan:

Reigning women’s strawweight world champion “The Panda” Xiong Jing Nan of China will defend her belt against atomweight world champion “Unstoppable” Angela Lee of Singapore.

Reigning middleweight and light-heavyweight world champion Aung La “The Burmese Python” Nsang will defend his middleweight crown against Japan’s Ken Hasegawa and bantamweight champion Kevin “The Silencer” Belingon of the Philippines will defend his title against former titleholder Bibiano “The Flash” Fernandes of Brazil.

The 22-year-old from Sukhothai, a former LPGA member, shot a closing 70, three birdies against a lone bogey on the 15th hole, to win on 16-under-par-200 on the first stop of a nine-event Thai LPGA tour this year.

“Actually I had been aiming to finish on 20 under but my putting deserted me,” said Supamas, who surrendered just one bogey in her three rounds. “But my approach shots really helped me out there. I’m still happy with the result, even though I was unable to reach my goal.”

Playing her first event at home since last year’s LPGA Thailand, she was overwhelmed to win on a tour which helped sharpen her game since her early days.

“I really feel connected with this tour as I was playing since I was young. I have gained so much experience from this home tour and made use of it when I went on to compete offshore,” added Supamas, who lost her LPGA card this year and will focus on a challenger tour in Japan instead.

“My goal is to finish top two in the tour in Japan in order to earn card into the bigger Japan LPGA tour,” added the Thai who is scheduled to enter a tournament in the Philippines next week.

Three shots back in second was 14-year-old amateur Phannarai Meesom-us, who carded a best-of-round  66 for a total of 2-3, 13 under-par.

“I’m excited to be the runner-up. I wished I could have shot lower scores but I’m quite OK with the result,” said the Garden Rayong International School student.