Stefanos Tsitsipas returns to ATP Dubai final

Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas beat Great Britain’s Daniel Evans 6-2 6-3, to reach the final of the Dubai Tennis Championships for the second straight year.

The two players had previously never played against each other before, and the British world number 37 had already beaten two top 15 opponents earlier this tournament. However, he would not get a third top 15 win in Dubai, as the Greek world number six broke Evans twice in each set for a comfortable 6-2 6-3 win. Tsitsipas did not face a single break point the entire match.

Earlier in the week, Tsitsipas beat Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta (world number 27) 7-6(1) 6-1 in the first round, Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik (world number 47) 7-6(1) 6-4 in the second round, and Germany’s Jan Lennard Struff (world number 34) 4-6 6-4 6-4 in the quarterfinals. As Tsitsipas won the title last week in Marseille, he is currently on an eight-match win streak.

The 21-year-old from Athens will now face world number one Novak Djokovic of Serbia in Saturday’s final.

Djokovic saved three consecutive match points in his semifinal win over world number nine Gael Monfils of France. The Serb now holds a perfect 17-0 record in 2020. It should be noted that this is only the fifth time ever that the Dubai final will be contested between the two top seeds, and so far the number two seed (Tsitsipas in this case) has won every time.

Djokovic and Tsitsipas have played each other four times before, with each player winning two of those matches. Of those four, two meetings took place on outdoor hard courts, and both of those were won by the Greek.

Tsitsipas is looking for his sixth career title, while Djokovic is seeking his fourth Dubai title and 79th overall title. Tsitsipas lost to Switzerland’s Roger Federer in last year’s Dubai final.

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