TENNIS – STEFANOS Tsitsipas ensured it was third time lucky yesterday at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
The fourth seed produced a high-quality performance to sink Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-3, 6-3 and claim his 12th tour-level title. After losing consecutive Dubai finals in 2019 to Roger Federer and in 2020 to Novak Djokovic, Tsitsipas made amends with a clutch display from the back of the court to clinch his maiden ATP 500 crown, and his first hard-court trophy since Los Cabos in 2023.
Entering Dubai with a 3-4 record on the season, vTsitsipas struggled for form to begin 2025. Yet with a run to a first title since the ATP Masters 1000 in Monte-Carlo last year, he is hitting his stride once again. The Greek’s one-hour, 28-minute victory against Auger-Aliassime also snapped his losing record in ATP 500 finals (1-11) and guaranteed his return to the Top 10 of the PIF ATP Rankings on Monday for the first time since last May. The 26-year-old also improved to 7-3 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Auger-Aliassime.
Auger-Aliassime, who leads the ATP Tour in wins (16) this season, was chasing his third title of 2025 after triumphing in Adelaide and Montpellier. Yet the Canadian No. 1 was unable to conjure a response to the baseline brilliance of Tsitsipas, who commanded in the extended rallies and saved all seven of the break points he faced, according to Infosys ATP Stats.
Auger-Aliassime had contested four three-set battles to reach Saturday’s final, but it was the Canadian who appeared the fresher of the two in the early stages of the contest. Tsitsipas, however, stood firm and raised his level, reeling off four consecutive games from 2-3 to claim the opener. The major turning point of the set proved to come in the seventh game, in which the Greek won five straight points from 40/0 to break Auger-Aliassime’s serve and run away with the first set.
Bidding to win an eighth ATP Tour title, Auger-Aliassime dug deep to remain within touching distance in the second set. He saved two break points in the third game, but was unable to convert any of the three he created. The 24-year-old eventually came unstuck by the all-court prowess of Tsitsipas, who mixed his relentless groundstrokes with exquisite touch en route to claiming his biggest hard-court trophy since triumphing at the 2019 Nitto ATP Finals on his debut.
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