DUBAI: Seven-time Dubai champion Roger Federer is one win away from his 100th career title, but he will have to get past Stefanos Tsitsipas in the 2019 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships final to reach that goal. Tsitsipas, who will crack the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings for the first time on Monday, beat Federer in their only prior meeting, in the fourth round of this year’s Australian Open.
Federer has a commanding 52-6 win-loss record at Dubai, including going 7-2 in finals. The Swiss superstar has been queued up to obtain his 100th ATP Tour singles title since winning for a ninth time in his hometown of Basel in October of last year, but this is his first appearance in a final since then. Despite three-set struggles in the opening rounds against Philipp Kohlschreiber and Fernando Verdasco, the World No. 7 pulled through and went on to claim straight-set wins over Marton Fucsovics in the quarter-finals and No. 6 seed Borna Coric in the semi-finals.
Tsitsipas won his second career title last week at Marseille, and has now won eight straight matches after his nearly three-hour semi-final encounter with Gael Monfils, the longest match of the tournament. The 20-year-old set a new career-high ranking of No. 11 last week after his Marseille title, and by virtue of reaching the Dubai final, he will make his Top 10 debut on Monday, becoming the first Greek player to enter that echelon since the ATP Rankings started in 1973.
The doubles final pits No. 4 seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury against Ben McLachlan and Jan-Lennard Struff. Ram and Salisbury, who have now made two finals together since pairing up at the start of this year, ousted two-time defending champions Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau in the semi-finals. For their part, McLachlan and Struff eliminated No. 1 seeds Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic in the quarter-finals. Sport Desk
