The inaugural Hellenic Championship will conclude with top seed Novak Djokovic facing second seed Lorenzo Musetti in the ATP 250 final in Athens. “I’m playing for two goals,” said the Italian, who will reach the ATP Finals if he wins the title.

Djokovic advanced with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over German qualifier Yannick Hanfmann, ending the 33-year-old’s run. Weeks after being pushed to three sets by Hanfmann at the Shanghai Masters, Djokovic was largely in control in Athens. The only tense moment came when Hanfmann broke for a 3-1 lead in the first set, prompting Djokovic to glance at the jumbotron. The World No. 5 broke back to 4-3 and closed out the match in just over an hour to reach the title match in Greece.

“I think it was the best tennis I’ve played this tournament,” said Djokovic, who broke a four-match losing streak in semifinals to reach an ATP Tour final a 23rd country for his career. “It came at the right time. Hanfmann poses a great threat because he serves big, has a big game, so I needed to really stay focused. I was a break down in the second, but I held my composure. I’m very excited for the final.”

The 38-year-old Belgrade native will appear in his 144th tour-level championship match, his third of the season after Miami and Geneva, and his 95th on hard courts. Djokovic is eyeing his 101st tour-level title.

Part of Djokovic’s preparation will be unconventional: he was planning to attend the Euro League basketball game between Olympiakos Piraeus and Partizan Belgrade. “The match time wasn’t too long,” Djokovic stated during his press conference. “I have to do recoveries in the next couple of hours and probably won’t make it to the beginning of the game, but I will try to make it.”

Musetti reached the final after a 6-0, 5-7, 7-5 win over Sebastian Korda. The 23-year-old Italian saved one match point and prevailed after two hours and 20 minutes. “We both played a really fantastic match. The level was very high, and it was an intense match for the crowd,” Musetti said. The world No. 9 seeks a third career title after victories in Naples and Hamburg three years ago and has finished runner-up five times since, twice this season.

“I wasn’t really lucky with finals in the past years. Hopefully this will change tomorrow,” Musetti said. “I am playing for two goals, and I am already focusing on tomorrow.”

The 24-time Grand Slam champion welcomed the matchup. “No. 1 seed against the No. 2 seed is a dream final for probably every tournament. It’ll be great,” Djokovic said. “I have a very good win score against him, but he is still looking for a place at the ATP Finals and needs to win the tournament. He plays well and that’s what everyone wants to see: high-quality tennis,” said Djokovic, who leads the head-to-head record with Musetti 8-1. Their last meeting took place in the round of the last 16 at the Miami Open earlier this season, when the Serb won in straight sets.

Lorenzo Musetti enters the Athens semifinals with a simple and urgent objective: win the Hellenic Championship and secure the final available place at the Nitto ATP Finals. The Italian advanced through the quarterfinals without the same drama as his opener, following a tight escape against Stan Wawrinka.

Seeded No. 2, Musetti was in control from the baseline against fifth-seeded Alexandre Muller, losing serve only once in a 6-2, 6-4 victory that moved him to the tournament’s halfway point on his path to Turin. “A better match, a better start also compared to yesterday. The key was today, I served really, really good,” he said in his on-court interview. “That gave me the confidence with the game to be more aggressive, especially with the forehand. That’s what I need to do in this kind of surface.”

The 23-year-old carries the weight of recent final losses and a longer title drought, seeking an indoor tour-level crown for the first time after last lifting a trophy in October 2022. He has lost his past five finals and knows a title here would keep his season alive with a return to the Finals.

Waiting in the semifinal is Sebastian Korda, who has collected three wins at the inaugural ATP 250 event and is aiming to finish the season inside the year-end Top 50. Korda has shown resilience in Athens, coming back from a set down in his first two matches before dispatching Miomir Kecmanovic 6-3, 6-2 while firing 13 aces. “I played a good match. I knew I had to play really well to beat Misha. He’s an incredible player, unbelievably solid from the back,” Korda told the crowd. “I’m excited to end the year at a great tournament and hopefully I can keep going. It’s pretty easy when you get fueled by some good food.”

Musetti acknowledged Korda’s comfort on indoor hard courts and insisted his focus will remain match by match. “I’m trying to think about match that I need to prepare. Sebastian is a really great opponent, especially in these conditions. He really likes to play on hard indoor,” he said. “It’s going to be a tough match. I need to focus on myself and what I have to do, not thinking too much on what’s coming next.”

Janice Tjen captured her first WTA title by defeating Kimberly Birrell 6-4, 6-3 in the Chennai Open final on Sunday. The 23-year-old recorded the biggest victory of her career and became only the third Indonesian to lift a WTA singles trophy in the Open Era.

The only other Indonesian WTA champions are Yayuk Basuki, who won six titles between 1991 and 1994, and Angelique Widjaja, who collected two titles, in Bali in 2001 and in Pattaya City in 2002. Widjaja’s Pattaya City triumph came in November of 2002, the same week as that year’s WTA Finals, when Kim Clijsters defeated Serena Williams for the title. Tjen was five months old at the time.

Tjen had reached her first WTA final in September in Sao Paulo, finishing runner-up to France’s Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah. A few weeks after that run in Brazil, Tjen broke into the Top 100, becoming the first player to crack that elite since Widjaja in 2004.

Her victory in Chennai will bring a significant ranking jump. She’s now projected to rise from No. 82 to just outside the Top 50, a career milestone that reflects rapid progress this season.

© 2025 Robert Prange