Stefanos Tsisipas won his first title in almost a year and broke a finals when he was passing after Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-3, 6-3 in the Dubai final on Saturday. “There is nothing that assured the victory today, it was only pure fights,” said Tsisipas after winning in an hour and 28 minutes. The victory ended a sequence of defeats in the ATP 500 level final for Greek. He won the end -of -season ATP final and at first level of the tour, but had lost all of his 11 previous finals at 500 tournaments.
These defeats included two defeats in Dubai – against Roger Federer in 2019 and Novak Djokovic in 2020.
“It is a great relief that I am able to hold this trophy after the third attempt,” said Tsisipas, fourth seeded, in the court.
“This is something I had in my mind, and I am happy to say that I accomplished it.”
Auger-Aliassime, a non-session Canadian, had taken a strong start to the season, winning tournaments in Adélaïde in January and Montpellier in February.
“I had a big opponent on the other side of the net, I knew it was a difficult task,” said Tsisipas. “I’m just proud of the way I got the pressure and I was able to play in these crucial moments.”
Tsitsipas dominated the basic line. He did not decrease any service, despite the breaking points twice in each set. In the first set, he broke the Canadian in the seventh and ninth games and took the decisive break in the eighth game.
Tsitsipas, which was classified n ° 3 in the world at the beginning of 2023 but which had slipped in the 11th row, will go to the ninth when the updated ATP rankings will be published on Monday.
“These are the things we are fighting as professional tennis players,” said Tsisipas.
“Having a place in the top 10 is certainly one of the greatest feelings that a tennis player can feel. It comes with hard work and sacrifices, but I’m happy that I am in a position where I can really celebrate.”
(With the exception of the title, this story has not been published by NDTV staff and is published from a unionized flow.)
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