World number one Andy Murray has admitted that he has plenty of work to do if he is to overcome Fernando Verdasco and win the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship title.

The 29-year-old, competing in his first tournament since a shock fourth-round exit at the Australian Open in January, beat Lucas Pouille on Friday to make it through to the Middle East final.

Murray was not entirely happy with his own performance in the semi-final, having also been made to save seven match points in the previous round, and he is not expecting his task to become any easier against Verdasco on Saturday afternoon.

"It was tough and I made a lot of mistakes," BBC Sport quotes him as saying. "But there was some good stuff in there. I think potentially the match yesterday had something to do with that - sometimes if your legs are a little bit tired, the serve is one of the first things that goes.

"As the match went on, I started serving a bit better and that helped me. This week he's had some good wins. Where the balls are fairly heavy here on a quick court, he can generate a lot of power, he can control the ball. And when he's dictating the points, he's one of the best in the world at doing that."

Left-hander Verdasco, ranked 35th in the world, beat Robin Haase in three sets to progress into today's final.