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World No. 6 Stefanos Tsitsipas ousts six-time champion Roger Federer in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 in the semifinals of the ATP World Tour Finals 2019 on Saturday and reach his maiden finals at the year-end event on his debut.

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Set one

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Stefanos Tsitsipas opened the match with a shaky service game as Roger Federer earned a breakpoint but squandered the chance to break with a forehand error as Tsitsipas held a tough opening serve.

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The Greek recovered well from the first game as he gained a breakpoint after Federer missed two overheads. Sensing the opportunity on the breakpoint, Tsitsipas stepped up to attack, unleashing a big forehand down the line to take the first break. Stefanos Tsitsipas broke Federer’s serve for the first time since their fourth-round clash at the Australian Open 2019.

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TheTsitsipas lost focus on the game plan while serving at 4-2 as the Swiss star earned three breakpoint opportunities at 40-0. However, the 21-year-old did not stop playing aggressively as he went on to win four consecutive points and saved three break points before holding a gutsy serve.

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peRFect shot!!!

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Stefanos Tsitsipas survived a 13-minute game while serving for the opening set at 5-3 as he saved two breakpoints courageously and finally closed the first set after the Greek found two big serves in a row to take the set 6-3 on his seventh set point.

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Set two

Stefanos Tsitsipas took his momentum to the second set as he broke to love in the third game of the second set as Roger Federer turned in a horror show of serving.

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In a replication of the last game of the first set, the 38-year-old cruised to 40-0 when Tsitsipas was serving at 2-1. The Greek gun once again went to save three breakpoints but the Basel native kept his head with the full-house crowd behind him. Federer finally grabbed his 10th breakpoint opportunity to break Tsitsipas’ serve for the first time in the match and get back on serve.

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The 21-year-old once again tested the physicality of Federer as the two continued to play some grueling tennis with Stefanos getting another break to get back on the driving seat to control the match. Tsitsipas was showing his mental fortitude and refused to give any free points, frustrating the Swiss star.

The debutant then went on to wrap up the match after saving two break points on his serve at 6-4 after 1 hour and 36 minutes and win the battle of single-handed backhand to reach the finals.

He will face the winner between Alexander Zverev and Dominic Thiem in the title match of the 2019 ATP Finals on Sunday.

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Varun Khanna

1,339 Articles

Starting off as a tennis author in 2018, Varun Khanna has gone on to contribute to EssentiallySports in various capacities. After setting up interviews with the likes of Serena Williams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou, Alizé Cornet, and Noah Rubin, Varun is now part of all major ATP and WTA press conferences and has gone on to pen more than 1300 articles for EssentiallySports. He now heads the tennis and NBA division of the organization. While writing remains a passion for him, Varun has branched out into the marketing and communications department of EssentiallySports as well. When he wants to relax, Varun doesn’t have to venture away from tennis and NBA; he simply tunes in to Rafael Nadal and Michael Jordan’s exploits in their respective sports, past and present.

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