ATP Dubai: Vesely wins tie-break crime thriller vs Shapovalov
The second semi-final in Dubai lasted three hours and twelve minutes. Jiri Vesely beatsDenis Shapovalov 6:7, 7:6 and 7:6 - and follows Andrey Rublev into the final.
by Dennis Heineman
last edit:
Feb 25, 2022, 09:02 pm
The fact that Jiri Vesely was able to win against Novak Djokovic as a qualifier after victories against Habib, Popyrin, Cilic and Bautista-Agut was a real surprise. Djokovic will lose world number one to Daniil Medvedev next Monday. But now Vesely also threw the Canadian Denis Shapovalov out of the tournament – and continued his winning streak in Dubai. Andrey Rublev, who was previously successful against Hubert Hurkacz, is waiting in the final. While Vesely was able to score with 19 aces, Shapovalov had problems with his own serve. A total of 14 double faults were perhaps a few too many in the end.
Ranked 123 in the ATP rankings, Vesely had the lowest semi-final placement in Dubai's 30-year history. But the Czech showed no sign of being overwhelmed as he won the first eight points of the match on his way to an early 3-0 lead. Shapovalov, who seemed to be adjusting to his opponent's punches, reclaimed the break to then win set one in the tie-breaker.
However, Vesely didn't let that bother him. The Czech was now approaching the net more regularly. And despite Shapovalov fending off the set's only break point, Vesely was able to steadily raise his level to win the second set tiebreaker.
Third set tiebreaker decides
In a third set full of twists, both players recovered from 0:40 on their own serve before a third tiebreaker. Vesely again won the crucial points, opening with a 4-1 lead that proved too far behind for Shapovalov to recover.