World no. 18 Andrey Rublev reached the semifinals in Dubai for the fifth time in his career on the back of a hat-trick of wins over Frenchmen, with Valentin Royer, Ugo Humbert, and Arthur Rinderknech all falling to the Russian ace.
Meanwhile, Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor continued his fine form after recovering from a disappointing last six months of the 2025 season. Griekspoor reached the quarterfinals of the ABN AMRO Open in Rotterdam two weeks ago and eliminated Alexander Bublik and Jakub Mensik in the two rounds before Friday's semifinal.
Both players started strongly on serve, with neither Rublev nor Griekspoor giving away a break point until the Russian put his opponent under pressure in the ninth game. Griekspoor missed a winner and had a service returned neatly at his feet, but hit four consecutive aces to erase Rublev's 30-0 lead and serve his way to yet another game win.
Rublev continued his strong run of games and forced the first break point of the match in the 11th game, which Griekspoor quickly erased, but handed back quickly as well with a double fault - all the while signalling at his physio about some discomfort. In the end, it was Griekspoor who battled through his hamstring issues and won the game with his tenth and eleventh aces.
Following a medical time-out, Griekspoor forced his first break point and converted to win the first set 7-5.
Griekspoor received further treatment for his hamstring during the set break and was immediately forced to defend the game with Rublev forcing three break points to open the set. The combative Dutchman came back from 40-0, however, with some more aces.
Rublev excelled on his first serve in the second set, hitting 100% on 24 first serves and an 80% first-serve rate, making great use of Griekspoor's ailments. It wasn't enough for a break, though, as the pair went to a tiebreak.
It was Rublev who landed the first blow with a quick mini-break and eventually earned the first set points, but a massive return saw Griekspoor turn the tide. The Russian squandered all his chances and saw the injured Griekspoor excel in the final points to advance to his first ATP Tour final since Mallorca 2025.
In the final, Griekspoor will face off against a familiar foe: third seed Daniil Medvedev, who beat Felix Auger-Aliassime in straight sets in the semifinals.
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