Stefanos Tsitsipas achieved victory by returning to the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships through a first-round win against Lorenzo Sonego with scores of 7-6 and 6-3. World no. 11 and Dubai finals participant twice returned to his familiar hard court at the Dubai Duty-Free Tennis Championships after a five-year break. Early in the first set, Tsitsipas lost the first three points of the tiebreaker but recovered with intense return plays to earn his victory.
Tsitsipas expressed satisfaction about his match returns because he faced strong resistance from his opponent. Tsitsipas awaits unseeded Karen Khachanov for the match, who defeated Dan Evans 6-1, 6-3. Since moving to Dubai in 2016 Khachanov intends to increase the wins he has against Tsitsipas from 1 to 9.
The Arab wildcard contestants Hady Habib and Aziz Dougaz pulled out within the first round/framework of competition following losses to Alexei Popyrin and Zizou Bergs, respectively, through scores of 6-2 6-4 and 6-3 6-3. Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard from France defeated Zhizhen Zhang in the late gam,e which led to a probable match against top seed Daniil Medvedev. Medvedev may deliver a thrilling encounter against Jan-Lennard Struff when he continues to the next round.