FAA comes through another Dubai 3-setter to book final

Felix Auger Aliassime claimed his fourth successive three-set win on Friday to reach his third final of the season with a 5-7, 6-4, 6–3 defeat of Quentin Halys at the ATP Dubai event.

The Canadian with trophies already in Adelaide and Montpellier, will wait for a Saturday title-match opponent as fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas faces Tallon Griekspoor in the second semi at the Aviation Club.  

FAA staged his second fightback of the week after dropping the opening set as he overhauled the French qualifier ranked 77th.

“I don’t know how I pulled it through today,” the winner said. “I’ve only played three-setters, back to back to back.”

The pair split the first two sets with the Canadian falling behind despite battling in the opening set.

He saved three break points in the 10th game to square it at 5-all but lost the set two games late as he sent a forehand return wide to end a lengthy 55-minute opener.

The Frenchman took the second before FAA broke twice in the third to assure victory,landing a winner on match point from deep in his court after more than two hours of battle. 

The winner admitted that several weeks of tennis in the Gulf region have taken a physical toll.

“We were both feeling tired. but I tried to have positive thoughts,” he said. “We’ve all had that pep talk with ourselves.

“I did that well and was able to dig deep physically- I’m happy it paid off today.

The Canadian won his 16th match of the season, maintaining his lead in that ATP category this season. The holder of seven career titles will be playing his 18th final.