Tsitsipas sharpens up to secure Evans semi-final

Second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas and British No.1 Daniel Evans will battle for a place in the final of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships after claiming tense victories on Thursday. Tsitsipas edged past Jan-Lennard Struff 4-6 6-4 6-4, and Evans upset sixth seed Andrey Rublev 6-2 7-6 (9).

After dropping his serve to lose the opening set world No.6 Tsitsipas broke at the beginning of the second, but still had to survive two break points as he served out to level the match. In the decider, Tsitsipas failed to capitalise on four instant break points and it wasn’t until two hours 18 minutes into the match that he took the lead for the first time by earning the decisive break at 4-4.

“I was struggling with my return today,” said Tsitsipas. “I don’t know what was wrong with it. I kept hitting the ball out of position, kind of far from me, sometimes close from me. I couldn’t really find enough space to get that right momentum to hit the ball. I think that was the biggest struggle today. I tried changing a little bit my return.

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“I think I’m actually pretty proud that I fought so hard, played with attention when I had to. When I got the break in the third set I knew that was my time to close the match now. I did it in perfect style.”

Friday’s encounter will be the first meeting between Tsitsipas and the in-form world No.37 Evans, who already has five Top-20 wins this season.

“I guess we share some similarities: we both play one-handed backhand. Yeah, he’s been doing well. Most of his results, from what I remember in the past, were good in grass courts. He’s a grass court master. Also hard courts, too, fast surfaces,” said the Greek.

“He obviously deserves his spot in the semi-finals. I need to be ready for that battle because you don’t know what he’s going to present and put out there tomorrow. Just got to be ready, start strong, take the lead.”

Evans had to battle for every point against Rublev, especially to close out each set. To win the first he fended off five break points at 5-2 before clinching it with his third set point, and after failing to serve out the match at 5-4 in the second set he had to fight off two set points in the tiebreak before claiming victory on his third match point. He will now contest his first semi-final since he defeated John Isner at the same stage a year ago to reach the Delray Beach final.

“Yeah, it was tough,” said Evans, who will make his Top 30 debut next week. “Just hung in at the end and got through. It was good tennis. Just didn’t fancy playing another set. I think that’s what got me through. His game is not a great match up for me. He doesn’t miss many returns. Obviously I don’t have the biggest serve in the world, so it’s difficult to come through my service games. I think he did a good job of that today. I got it just right to hit and mix it up. Sometimes you can do too much of one and not enough of the another. Yeah, I was happy with how I did all that. It was good to get through in the end.”

“Yet again we have been able to enjoy a match in which the outcome could not be predicted until the very end,” said Colm McLoughlin, Executive Vice Chairman and CEO of Dubai Duty Free. “We congratulate Stefanos Tsitsipas on reaching the semi-finals, and also Daniel Evans who worked equally hard to achieve his well-deserved win.”

Tournament Director Salah Tahlak added, “Every day has produced great drama, and both players this afternoon had to work extremely hard for their victories. It took Stefanos Tsitsipas until the very end to finally gain the upper hand against Jan-Lennard Struff, and well over two hours for Daniel Evans to overcome one of the most successful players of this season, two-time tournament winner Andrey Rublev.”

The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships is owned and organised by Dubai Duty Free and held under the patronage of H. H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. The tournament continues until 29th February with world No.1 and Wimbledon and Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic, ATP Finals and recent Marseille winner Stefanos Tsitsipas, and 2020 Rotterdam and Montpellier champion Gael Monfils.

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— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) February 27, 2020