Stefanos Tsitsipas beat Matteo Berrettini 7-6 (7-5) 1-6 6-4 to reach his first semifinal since July 2024 at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
Both players held on their serve until the eighth game Tsitsipas earned two break points but Berrettini saved them to hold serve for 4-4. The Greek player faced two break points in the ninth game. Both players held on their service games en route to tie-break. Tsitsipas earned the first mini-break to take a 2-0 lead. Berrettini pulled back on serve to draw level to 2-2. Tsitsipas sealed a second mini-break to close out the tie-break 7-5 on his third set point.
Berrettini dropped just one point on his serve in the second set and played well on return breaking serve twice in the fourth and sixth games to win the second set 6-1.
Both players went on serve until 4-4 in the third set before Berrettini earned two break points. The Italian player was not convert them. Tsitsipas earned two break points and was able to break on his second match point.
Tsitsipas improved his head-to-head series against Berrettini.
“It’s a great feeling being back so deep in tournaments. It brings a smile on my face knowing I’ve played good tennis so far to get to this point. There were a lot of ups and downs… The first set was a great effort, but I didn’t deliver in the second. But it’s confusing how I found myself winning at the end, because I felt like I was going through some mental battles during that match”, said Tsitsipas.
Tsitsipas set a second round against Tallon Griekspoor, who came back from one set down to beat 2023 champion Danil Medvedev 2-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-5 achieving the biggest win of his career. Griekspoor scored his fourth top 10 win.
Griekspoor saved four match points in the second set to take the match to the third set before converting the fourth of his own to reach the semifinals. Earlier this week the Dutch player saved three match points against Roman Safiulin in the first round before beating Ugo Humbert 4-6 6-3 6-2 in the second round.
Medvedev hit just one unforced error and won 100% of his first serve points in the first set. The Russian player broke twice in the sixth and eighth game to win the first set 6-2.
Griekspoor fended off two match points, as he was serving at 4-5 15-40 in the second set. Medvedev earned two more match points as Griekspoor was serving at 5-6.
Griekspoor saved a third match point with a backhand volley. The Dutch player hit a forehand volley to save a fourth match point and held serve with a drop volley winner to force the second set to the tie-break.
Medvedev saved a set point at 5-6 with a running forehand in the tie-break. Medvedev hit a lob winner to save a second set point to draw level to 7-7. Griekspoor earned a set point with a slice serve and closed out the second set point when Medvedev’s went wide.
Medvedev held serve at love with with two aces to level the third set to 4-4.
Medvedev saved three match points in the 12th game. He won a 20-shot tally to save the third match point.
Griekspoor earned a fourth match point with a lob and sealed the win when Medvedev missed one final backhand after 2 hours and 35 minutes.
“I’m super happy with this win. I had to fight off a couple of match points in the second set. Daniil is an unbelievable player, an unbelievable competitor. He’s been at the top of the rankings for so many years, so I’m very pleased with this win. I thought he played so well in the first set. I didn’t do badly, he was just too good. I just tried to stay tough with it, even though I went a break down in the second. When I broke him back, I felt like the momentum went a little bit my way. I was a little bit lucky on the match points down, and in the second-set tie-break. I even needed a few match points myself to finish this one off”, said Griekspoor.
