Rising youngster Elena Rybakina has overcome a hip twinge and plucky opponent to earn a shot at a second career title at the Hobart International.

The world No.30 beat British qualifier Heather Watson 6-3 4-6 6-4 in their semi-final on Friday night but twice received on-court treatment from the trainer late in the third set.

“I just pulled a muscle … it happened to me for the first time and I was a bit scared because it’s not a nice feeling,” the 20-year-old Rybakina said.

“It was better after the treatment, I will go away to the physio and try to recover.”

Down 3-4 in the final set, a ginger Rybakina pulled the trigger and reeled off the final three games to take the match.

“I didn’t want to play the long rallies. I just played risky,” she said.

Rybakina will meet Chinese fourth seed Zhang Shuai in Saturday’s final after the 30-year-old beat Veronika Kudermetova in straight sets.

Rybakina, who was born in Russia but represents Kazakhstan, has had a promising start to the season having made the final at China’s Shenzhen Open before coming to Australia.

She rose a stunning 154 places last year and won a maiden title at Bucharest.

“It was pretty fast. But I don’t think about the players against who I play, I just try to do my best every time,” she said.

Earlier, Zhang progressed to her third WTA final with a comfortable 6-3 6-4 win.

Zhang, who made the quarter-finals at Wimbledon last year and won the Australian Open doubles with Samantha Stosur, was boosted by a vocal Chinese contingent.

She contemplated retirement after dropping to No.186 at the end of 2015 but has finished every year in the top 50 since then.

She’ll also play in the Hobart doubles final on Saturday.