Nlike this Djokovic play their fourth final of the season after winning in the semifinals of the ATP 250 of Tel Aviv to Russian Roman Safiulin, protagonist of an important ascent this season in the masculine list. The 25-year-old Russian arrived at the tournament as 104 ATP and his place in the semifinals has already given him entry into the ‘top 100’, when a year ago he was 151 in the ranking. Since then he has won the challengers of Nur Sultan and Chicago with victories, among others, against Andy Murray, Jannik Sinner and Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Against Djokovic, in the semifinals, Safiulin could not put up much resistance in the first set, although in the second set he achieved a ‘break’ when the member of the ‘Big Three’ served for gain the match, managing to take the score to a 6-1, 7-6
Novak accesses this final, in an ATP 250 in which he was the first favorite, after having done so in the Belgradethat he loses, that of the Masters 1,000 of Romawho won against Tisitsipas and that of Wimbledon, who won against Kyrgios. The last tournament for the Serbian, now seventh in the ATP, was the Laver Cup, in which he beat Frances Tiafoe and lost to Flix Auger-Aliassime.
His rival in the final will be the winner of the match between the Frenchman Constant Lestienne and Croatian Marin Cilic, second seeded and 16 ATP, semi-finalist this year at Roland Garros. Lestienne, 68 in the ATP, has won the Malaga and Pozoblanco challengers this year and reached the final at El Espinar and the French event in Cherbourg.
