Tsitsipas downs Evans to reach Dubai final

DUBAI — Stefanos Tsitsipas won his eighth match in a row on Friday, defeating Briton Dan Evans 6-2, 6-3 on Friday to reach the final at the Dubai Championships.

The Greek second seed who lifted the trophy last Sunday in Marseille, returned to the final in the emirate after finishing runner-up here a year ago to Roger Federer.

The world number six will Saturday face the winner from top seed Novak Djokovic and tournament number three Gael Monfils.

Tsitsipas could not fault his victory in 83 minutes over the 37th-ranked Evans in a first-time meeting.

"I managed to stay solid throughout the whole match, I didn't have too much stress, I stayed quite calm and played well," he said.

Tsitsipas, winner of 16 of his last 17 sets, won his 10th career match at the Aviation Club against two defeats.

British number one Evans was competing in his fourth semi-final at the ATP level.

He saved three match points against Pierre-Hugues Herbert in the second round and two set points in the quarter-finals against Andrey Rublev.

Tsitsipas never faced a break point in the match while breaking the Evans serve four times.

The Greek will be playing his 11th career final and aiming for a sixth title. — AFP