WORLD number six, Stefanos Tsitsipas has earned the chance to go one better than last year’s runner-up prize at Dubai Tennis Championships after reaching the final for another year. Last year, the Greek won through to the final before falling short to hand Roger Federer a remarkable eighth Dubai title. Yesterday, Tsitsipas got past unseeded Brit, Dan Evans without too much trouble in a 6-2 6-3 win to get to the same point 12 months later. The problem? Now he takes on the only player less ideal than Federer – Novak Djokovic.

The Serbian had his first genuine fight of the tournament against number three Frenchman, Gael Monfils who was coming off back-to-back titles. It took Djokovic two hours and 35 minutes to finally get the job done, shaking off Monfils to break a total of four times to three in the 6-2 6-7 6-1. Either side of the second set tiebreaker the Serbian star looked too good in the important points, though realistically won just eight more points than his opponent for the match. Djokovic was immense off Monfils second serve, with a success rate of 63 per cent, while Monfils relied on his first serve to get it done (65 per cent).

Now the world number one takes on Tsitsipas who showed what he is capable of on hard court at the ATP Finals series last year, and the pair are actually 2-2 in hte head-to-head with Tsitsipas winning two out of three on hardcourt and all of them came at Masters events. The last time they played however, Djokovic won 6-1 6-2 in Paris and will be looking to build on that again. Given the world number one is yet to lose in 2020, it will certainly be a big test.

Tsitsipas is in good form though, taking less than an hour compared to Djokovic in order to book a spot in the final, needing just an hour and 21 minutes to dismiss Evans in their semi-final. Only dropping three points off his first serve at an elite 90 per cent efficiency, Tsitsipas was impenetrable and did not have a break point against him, while the Greek talent broke six from 10 off Evans’ serve to make it through to another Dubai final and defend his points at least.

SEMI-FINALS RESULTS:

[1] Novak Djokovic (SRB) [3] Gael Monfils (FRA)
[2] Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) Daniel Evans (GBR)