Stefanos Tsitsipas Knocks Down Alexander Zverev at China Open 2019 Semifinals

Published 10/05/2019, 12:05 PM EDT

Follow Us

via Imago

World Number seven, Stefanos Tsitsipas swept aside the World Number six, Alexander Zverev 7-6(8-6), 6-4 in the semifinals of China Open 2019. The Greek lad, Tsitsipas will be setting up the championship clash against Dominic Thiem who battled past the Russian, Karen Khachanov in the first semifinals in Beijing.

Set One: 

The second seed, Alexander Zverev made a perfect start by breaking Tsitsipas’ serve in the first game and later consolidated to love for a 2-0 lead. A smooth game of tennis was depicted by both the ATP men and both played a flawless.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

A delayed challenge from Stefanos Tsitsipas turned out to be expensive for Zverev. The German lad slammed an ace for a 4-2 lead and the chair umpire Carlos Bernardes announced ‘game’.

The challenge from Tsitsipas was taken into consideration and Zverev missed the ace by a millimeter and the scores were set back to deuce at 3-2.

Committing two double faults in a single game and followed by some unforced errors from Sascha, Tsitsipas balanced the set to 3-3.

Double fault reaction!

It was Tsitsipas taking a 5-3 in the opening set and followed by Zverev destroying his racquet. Tsitsipas got an off-camera code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct (the crowd gasped) and then got broken at 5-4.

lobbed the 6’6 tall man!

Sascha: The result of unforced errors!

Alexander Zverev was shrieking on the top of his voice for every point he won. The dramatic match of tennis was driven into the tiebreaker. With Zverev earned three set points and with Tsitsipas playing some courageous tennis stowed the score to 6-6(6-6).

A composed game was exhibited by Stefanos Tsitsipas in the next two points. Zverev dumped the ball in the net while trailing behind by a set point, and then the Greek lad sealed the set 7-6(8-6) in the China Open 2019 semifinals.

Set Two: 

World Number seven, Stefanos Tsitsipas seemed charged since the beginning of the set. One-Way traffic on the Greek’s road was depicted as he held 12 points in a row and led by 3-1. Zverev happened to go a double break down as Tsitsipas won 16 of the last 17 points for a 4-1.

Sascha continued to with his error-strewn form of tennis as Tsitsipas faced two match points. However, in a match point down situation, the German slammed winners to stay in the battle.

Zverev retrieved one of the breaks while Tsitsipas was serving for the match as the Greek produced a few unforced errors. Tsitsipas again boarded to serve for the match at 5-4 and received three match points. Striving to stretch the match Zverev saved all three of them, but it was Tsitsipas closing out the match sailing into the finals of Beijing.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

 

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :

Written by:

Mahalakshmi Murali

1,909Articles

One take at a time

Mahalakshmi Murali joined EssentiallySports in 2018 as a tennis author and has gone on to pen more than 1800 engaging articles, probing into various aspects of the sport and its illustrious players. With her expertise on the sport, Mahalakshmi has interviewed stalwarts from the sport such as Serena WIlliams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou and Kevin Anderson’s physio, Carlos Costa. Equipped with her vast experience and a keen understanding of the sport, Mahalakshmi now co-heads the tennis department.
Show More>