Russian tennis player Daniil Medvedev (ranked 11th in the world) will face Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor (ranked 25th in the world) in the final of the 34th edition of the men's Dubai Tennis Championships (500 points). The match is scheduled for Saturday evening. Medvedev advanced to the final after defeating Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime (1st seed, 8th in the world) 6-4, 6-2 on Friday. Griekspoor reached the final by pulling off a major upset, eliminating Russian Andrey Rublev (6th seed) 7-5, 7-6. Medvedev, for whom this is the 42nd final of his professional career, said in a press conference that his improvement is linked to the speed of the courts, adding that he will try to deliver a better performance in the final to win the title. The former world No. 1, seeded third, aims to win the Dubai title for the second time after 2023, an achievement that would be his first in terms of defending a title, as his previous 22 titles have been won at different tournaments. In the other semi-final, Griekspoor suffered pain in his thigh muscle after taking a 6-5 lead in the first set, which required a medical timeout. However, he returned to break Rublev's serve and clinch the set. The second set went to a tie-break, where Rublev, leading 3-0 and having two match points at 6-4, squandered his advantage. Griekspoor managed to turn the tables and win the match. Griekspoor commented: 'I could barely walk at the end of the first set... I was lucky in the tie-break, as extending to a third set would have made the task much more difficult.' With this qualification, Griekspoor reached his sixth career final, the second in a 500-level tournament, becoming the first Dutch player to reach the final of the Dubai Tennis Championships.
