Tsitsipas Returns To Dubai Final
For the second straight year, Stefanos Tsitsipas booked his place in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships final just five days after lifting the Open 13 Provence trophy in Marseille.
The World No. 6 won 90 per cent of first-serve points (26/29) and did not face a break point en route to a 6-2, 6-3 victory against Daniel Evans after 81 minutes. Tsitsipas has lost just one of the 17 sets he has contested since arriving in Marseille last week.
”I just managed to stay solid throughout the whole match,” said Tsitsipas. “I didn’t have massive breakdowns and just played a quality of tennis which I enjoyed… I am really impressed by the quality of my game today and I really hope to bring the same and possibly even better in the next round.”
With his eighth straight match win, Tsitsipas improves to 10-2 at the ATP 500 event. The 21-year-old Greek will attempt to capture his first ATP 500 trophy in Saturday’s championship match.
Tsitsipas will face World No. 1 Novak Djokovic for the title. The reigning Nitto ATP Finals titlist is tied at 2-2 in his ATP Head2Head series against the four-time champion.
“He's in really good form and shape. He's been playing great tennis. Everybody has seen what he did at the Australian Open,” said Tsitsipas. “For sure, I'm going to have to bring the best out of my game and reduce my mistakes and in general reduce everything, stay aggressive like today I would say… It's going to take something extra for me to beat him tomorrow. I'm going to try and seek that.”
Tsitsipas proved the more consistent player from the baseline in the early stages and was rewarded with groundstroke errors from his opponent in the fifth game. Evans responded by moving to the net behind his serve, but Tsitsipas ripped his second backhand winner of the game to establish a 3-2 lead. The World No. 6 continued to hit his targets as Evans attempted to move up the court, breaking serve for a second time before firing an ace out wide to claim a one-set lead.
[WATCH LIVE 2]
With aggressive forehands and movement up the court, Tsitsipas strengthened his position with an early break of serve at 1-1 in the second set. The five-time ATP Tour titlist advanced to his 11th tour-level final with his fourth service break as Evans failed to control a low forehand volley.
”I have found momentum,” said Tsitsipas. “I am executing really well with my forehand which played an incredible role today in the match. I won most of my points from the forehand side, which is my biggest weapon. My serve helped a lot as well.”
Evans was attempting to reach his first ATP 500 final. The 29-year-old Brit, who saved three match points to beat Pierre-Hugues Herbert in the second round, has won five of his nine matches against Top 20 opponents this year.