Stefanos Tsitsipas conquers his first ATP 500 in Dubai | ATP Tour

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Tsitsipas conquers his first ATP 500 in Dubai

He had 0-11 in the end in this category until this Saturday beat Auger-Aliassime

March 01, 2025

It was a matter of time, although the wait seems eternal. Stefanos Tsitsipas had been pursuing its first ATP 500 crown for many years, but it was not until Saturday at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, where Greek managed to put an end to a streak of 0-11 at the end of this category.

Serial head No. 4 surpassed Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-3, 6-3, 6-3, in an hour and 28 minutes, conquering the most important title of his career in hard track outdoors.

“There was nothing to ensure victory today, it was pure struggle,” Tsitsipas confessed. “It is a great relief that has been able to raise this trophy after three attempts. It is something I had in mind, and I am happy to say that I have achieved it. He had a great rival on the other side of the network, he knew it was a complicated task. I am proud of the way I managed the pressure and I could develop at the important moments. ”

“They are the things we fight for as professional tennis players,” said the Greek about his return to Top 10 next Monday. “Being in Top 10 is one of the great sensations that a tennis player can live. He arrives with hard work and sacrifice, but I am happy to be in a position in which I can celebrate it. ”

You have to go back until 2018, specifically to Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, to see Tsitsipas fight for its first ATP 500 title. On that occasion, Rafael Nadal denied him the victory. And so it had happened on the ten subsequent occasions that tried in Dubai (2019, 2020), Beijing (2019), Hamburg (2020), Acapulco (2021), Barcelona (2021, 2023, 2024), Róterdam (2022) and Astana (2022).

However, it is one of the five players that has reached the last round in an ATP 500 since the category in 2009 was configured. Only Roger Federer (21), Nadal (21), Novak Djokovic (17) and David Ferrer (16) have more presences than him in a final of an ATP 500.

And if there was an ATP 500 setting conducive for Tsitsipas to get its first trophy, this was Dubai’s. In this tournament he accumulates a record of parties of 15-3, having been a finalist in 2019 and 2020 before proclaiming champion in this edition.

This Saturday he broke the drought in the category, probably before one of the most complicated rivals of 2025. And it is that on the other side of the network was waiting for Augusto-Aliassime, a player who already knows what to raise two titles this season and occupies No. 3 of the PIF ATP Live Race to Turin.

Of course, Tsitsipas started with the confidence of dominating the lexus ATP Head2head against Augusto-Aliassime. And in the United Arab Emirates again added a victory against the Canadian to leave the face to face between them in 7-3 (2-1 in their favor in the late).

The beginning of the meeting seemed to indicate the opposite. He was Auger-Aliassime the first to threaten the stability of the service of his rival, when he advanced 2-1, 15/40, but Tsitsipas knew how to get out of danger with four points in a row. In addition, the Canadian barely suffered with his service. So much that he won 15 of the first 17 points that put into play with his serve.

But the Greek found the formula in the seventh game to unleash Felix’s security with the service, linking three games in a row and signing two breaks granted by the first set 6-3.

The match became a hard battle to retain the service in the second set. Both had to respond to two consecutive break options at the beginning of the sleeve to leave 2-2 on the scoreboard. But it was not until the eighth game, where again the Greek signed a break (3/6 in total), which granted him the victory.

Tsitsipas conquered title No. 12 of his career, the first since last April 2024 managed to win at the ATP Masters 1000 in Montecarlo. The Greek accumulates eight consecutive years raising at least a trophy per season since it premiered its record in 2018.

Did you know what …?

Stefanos Tsitsipas will return on Monday to the Top 10 of the PIF ATP Rankings, for the first time since last May. The Greek will be No. 9 of the world, after being crowned in Dubai.