The National's Ahmed Rizvi and Jon Turner are at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships to bring you live reports from the ATP tournament. Check back for up-to-the-minute updates.
First read
Jon Turner on Marcos Baghdatis: 'It's all about fighting' – Cypriot brings tenacious-as-ever style to final
Ahmed Rizvi on Stan Wawrinka: Swiss holds steady, brings star power to Dubai final
Order of play
Doubles final (5pm): Simone Bolelli (ITA) / Andreas Seppi (ITA) vs Feliciano Lopez (ESP) / Marc Lopez (ESP)
Singles final (7pm): 2-Stan Wawrinka (SUI) vs Marcos Baghdatis (CYP)
*Matches can be seen on Abu Dhabi Sports 6
Tale of the tape
Stan Wawrinka v Marcos Baghdatis
Age: Wawrinka 30; Baghdatis 30
Nationality: Wawrinka – Swiss; Baghdatis – Cyrpriot
Ranking: Wawrinka – No 4; Baghdatis – No 57
Head-to-head: 7-0 Wawrinka
Best previous Dubai result: Wawrinka – first round (2006, 08); Baghdatis – semi-final (2010)
2016: Wawrinka 8-2; Baghdatis 3-3
Path to the final
Wawrinka
First round bt Sergiy Stakhovsky 5-7, 6-3, 7-5
Second round bt Franco Skugor 7-5, 6-1
Quarter-finals bt Philipp Kohlschreiber 7-5, 6-1
Semi-final bt Nick Kyrgios 6-4, 3-0 (retire)
Baghdatis
First round bt Viktor Troicki 7-6 (7/2), 6-2
Second round bt Vasek Pospisil 6-4, 6-2
Quarter-finals bt Roberto Bautista Agut 7-5, 6-0
Semi-final bt Feliciano Lopez 3-6, 7-6 (7/1), 6-1
What to watch for
Wawrinka, a winner of the Australian Open and French Open in the last three years, will be the overwhelming favourite against Cypriot veteran Baghdatis in the final. The Swiss’ backhand is one of the great weapons in all of tennis, and finally started to sharpen on Friday in his semi-final win over Nick Kyrgios after a week in which he had largely looked less than his best.
But Baghdatis, whose style is as close as could be described as ‘brawling’ as you’ll find in tennis, showed great guile and resilience in battling back from a set down to oust another overwhelming favourite, Feliciano Lopez, on Friday night. The 30-year-old showed he can also still play the lines with the best of them, and his visible emotion on the court in the semi against Lopez showed what it would mean to him to win his first ATP title since 2010 here. Motivation will definitely be in his favour.
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