Dubai Open: Stan Wawrinka to face Marcos Baghdatis in final
Swiss tennis ace Stan Wawrinka and Marcos Baghdatis from Cyprus have set up the final meeting of the 24th edition of Dubai Duty-Free Tennis Championships.
The world's number four "Stan the Man", 30, who will face Baghdatis on Saturday, won 6-4, 3-0 on Friday when Nick Kyrgios from Australia retired due to a back injury, Xinhua news agency reported.
It was the second retirement of the ATP tournament in the Gulf Arabian sheikhdom after the world's number one Novak Djokovic retired in the quarter-final on Thursday due to problems with his contact lenses.
Semi-final thriller
Lopez and Baghdatis delivered a real semi-final thriller as their three sets lasted two hours and one minute.
Baghdatis left the court with a victory of 3-6, 7-6, 6-1.
"Without the support of the spectators, I would not have made it. I was also a bit lucky and Lopez stepped down a bit back in at the end," said Baghdatis who kissed the blue hard court after winning the match against the Spaniard.
He added that he was not happy with his first service and aims to improve in the final on Saturday.
Talking about Wawrinka, the 30-year old Cypriot, ranked 53 in the ATP list, said "he is top four, he is a great guy and it is going to be a tough match tomorrow."