Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic continues his inspired run at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in the United Arab Emirates, rallying to earn a spot in the final with a 6-7 (7), 7-6 (2), 7-6 (3) victory Friday over Denis Shapovalov of Canada.
Vesely, a qualifier who knocked Novak Djokovic out of the No. 1 spot in the world with a quarterfinal victory Thursday, will face Russia’s Andrey Rublev in the final. Rublev, the No. 2 seed, knocked off fifth-seeded Hubert Hurkacz of Poland 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (5) in the other semifinal.
Vesely had 15 aces and won 81.8 percent of his first-serve points while winning the marathon three-hour, 12-minute match over the sixth-seeded Shapovalov. Rublev overcame 27 aces by Hurkacz and won by taking four of the last five points in the third-set tiebreaker.
After his victory, the 24-year-old Rublev wrote “NO War Please” on a television camera in reference to his homeland’s invasion of Ukraine.
–Field Level Media