Medvedev tops Rublev in Dubai final for third straight title Kostyuk beats Collins in Austin to reach 1st WTA final Paul outlasts fellow American Fritz, reaches Mexican final

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Daniil Medvedev won his 18th tour-level title and third in a row by beating Andrey Rublev 6-2, 6-2 at the Dubai Championships.

The former No. 1 extended his winning streak to 14 matches, starting on Valentine’s Day and including back-to-back trophies in Rotterdam and Doha.

Medvedev, on the second longest winning streak of his career, beat Rublev twice in every set and won the last five games on hard court.

Rublev was the reigning champion but quickly fell behind as he was unable to hold a serve in the first game.

“It’s surprising because the start of the year wasn’t perfect,” Medvedev said on the court after defeating his good friend. “So I had a lot of doubts, and now I just feel better.”

Medvedev inflicted the first defeat of the year on Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals.

The 2021 US Open champion defeated Andy Murray to win the Qatar Open last week after beating Yannick Sinner in the Rotterdam Open final.

Marta Kostyuk advanced to her first career WTA Final by winning five of her last six games and beating Danielle Collins 6-4, 6-3 at the ATX Open.

Kostyuk saved five of the six break points she faced and won four of the inning games of runner-up Collins at the 2022 Australian Open.

The eighth seeded Kostyuk is a 20-year-old Ukrainian who has previously reached the semi-finals in four tournaments, but has never gone beyond this round.

She will face one of the two unseeded players in the first Austin Hardcourt Tournament Championship: Katie Wolynets of the USA or Varvara Gracheva. They were supposed to meet in the second semi-final.

Collins, who finished fourth, was trying to make it to her first title match on the tour since going so far at Melbourne Park last season before losing to Ash Barty. Collins fell to 0-5 against seeded opponents and her WTA semi-final career record is now 3-9.

Acapulco, Mexico. Tommy Paul defeated American and longtime rival Taylor Fritz 6-3, 6-7(2), 7-6(2) in a three-hour marathon match to secure a place in the final of the Mexican Open.

A couple of 25-year-olds reconciled in their teens. They first met each other – when Fritz was 13 and Paul was 14 – at the 2011 USTA Boys Under 14 National Championships in San Antonio, Texas.

It took Paul nearly 3.5 hours to beat third-seeded Fritz in the semi-finals to become the third American to reach the final in Acapulco. Fritz accomplished the feat in 2020 and Sam Querrey won the tournament in 2017.

Paul, who reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open in January, is looking for his second career title after Stockholm in 2021.

He will face Alex de Minaur of Australia who defeated Halger Rune of Denmark 3-6, 7-5, 6-2.

No. 8 seed De Minaur plays 3-0 against Paul and will play in his first final since Atlanta in 2022, when he won his sixth career title.