Tsitsipas Ends Long Drought To Reach First Final In 10 Months In Dubai
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Stefanos Tsitsipas has struggled for a very long time, but he was able to end his struggles at the 2025 Dubai Championships, where he reached the final.
It's been almost a year since Tsitsipas played in a final. That last happened at the 2024 Barcelona Open. Paradoxically, he was on a 10-match winning streak back then after winning the Monte-Carlo Masters.
But since then, the Greek player made it past the quarter-final stage only once. He reached his first semi-final in seven months this week in Dubai, and he was able to further extend his great result at the ATP 500 event.
His semi-final opponent was Tallon Griekspoor. Although he is a great player, Tsitsipas could certainly face much higher-ranked opponents in Dubai who could trouble him more, for example, the top-seeded Daniil Medvedev who lost to the Dutch player.
Tsitsipas beat Griekspoor twice before, and he started this match against the Dutch player well, too. The former ATP World No. 3 player had two break points at 3-3, but those remained unused, and his opponent held for 4-3.
But a couple of games later, Griekspoor couldn't fend off the challenge from his opponent. Tsitsipas broke for the first time in the match, and after overcoming a 15-30 deficit in his next service game, he won the first set of the match 6-4.
The 26-year-old Greek started the second set in the best way possible. He broke his opponent's serve already in the third game and never looked back. In fact, Tsitsipas didn't face a single break point in this match.
Thanks to that, he was able to win the match very easily, 6-4, 6-4, reaching his first semi-final since last year's Barcelona Open. Of course, he was very happy about the result after the match.
"I feel extremely happy that I was able to avoid the drama today, and play good tennis from the beginning until the end. It felt good. I was doing a great job from the baseline and I felt that my focus levels were at their highest so far, from any match I’ve played this week."
"I’m trying to take the best out of every match. Every match has a new teaching, something new to offer me in terms of experience and knowledge, I’m trying to soak it all in and use that wisdom effectively."
Tsitsipas also spoke about his upcoming final opponent. Felix Auger-Aliassime has the most wins on the ATP Tour this year (16), and the Greek player is aware of the qualities that the Canadian player has.
"Obviously, Felix has been playing very well. Everyone is aware on the Tour. I’m gonna go out on court and try my best and see what he comes up with. Let’s just leave it to the best player."
