Stefanos Tsitsipas ended his title drought at ATP 500 events with a straight-sets win over Felix-Auger Aliassime at the Dubai Tennis Championships on Saturday.
The Greek fourth seed powered his way to a 6-3, 6-3, win over Auger-Aliassime, who has won more matches (15) on the ATP Tour than any other player this season. Playing in his third Dubai final, Tsitspas broke his opponent three times and hit 16 winners during the 88-minute showdown. It is only the fourth time he has beaten a top 25 player on a hardcourt since the start of 2024 with his win-loss record now standing at 4-7.
”There’s nothing I can say that ensured the win today,” Tsitsipas said afterward.
“I was just pure fighting and trying my best to avoid that third final loss.
“It was nerve-wracking. I had a great opponent on the other side of the net. I knew there was a difficult task to face.
“I’m just proud in ways that I managed to handle the pressure and perform in those crucial moments.”
Coming into the title match on Saturday, Tsitsipas had lost all 11 of his previous finals played at ATP 500 events. Apaprt from his first 500 trophy in Dubai, he has 11 other ATP titles to his name which includes three Masters 1000s and one trophy from the 2019 ATP Finals.
“This is something that I was fighting for for a long time. It’s great that it happened here in Dubai.” He commented.
“My game kind of clicked, and things seemed to work pretty well from the beginning, so I’m very happy with the way things progressed over the week and how I was able to close out some matches that didn’t seem like they belonged to me. Especially in the last couple of days.”
Besides getting the better of world No.21 Auger-Aliassime, the 26-year-old also ousted Karen Khachanov and Matteo Berrettini in three sets. In the semi-finals, he beat Tallon Griekspoor who knocked top seed Daniil Medvedev out of the tournament.
The victory means that Tsitsipas will move back into the top 10 on Monday for the first time since May.
“These are the things that we’re fighting for as professional tennis players,” he said.
“To be owning a spot in the top 10 is definitely one of the greatest feelings a tennis player can experience. It comes obviously with hard work. It comes with sacrifices. It comes with all these difficult moments that you have to endure as a tennis player.”
Tsitsipas’ latest triumph coincides with his decision to test a new Wilson racket this week. After his first round win, he explained that balls have become slower on the court and the change in equipment is to help him adapt to the new conditions.
There is so far no comment on if he will continue using the new racket at his next tournament in Indian Wells.
