Stefanos Tsitsipas’ road to lifting his first Tour title of the year seems to be getting tougher with every hurdle that he crosses.

After fighting past a doughty challenger in Egor Gerasimov of Kazakhstan in his campaign opener at the ongoing ATP Rotterdam Open, the Greek World Number 3 set up a rematch with rising Pole Hubert Hurkacz.

The two had met in the fourth round of the event last year, with the long-haired Greek prevailing in three sets.

Khachanov won’t be a pushover for Tsitsipas as he upset Stan Wawrinka in the opening round

This year saw an encore in terms of how the match panned out as Tsitsipas, after suffering a mid-match slump and dropping the second set, picked up his game to reach the quarters with a 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 win.

Now, between the Greek and a place in the tournament’s last-four stands a certain Karen Khachanov, the Russian World Number 21, who he will play later on Thursday.

An accomplished hard-court player, Khachanov reached the third round of this year’s Australian Open before going down to rising Italian star Matteo Berrettini in three fiercely-contested sets.

Having scored an upset win over three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka, the Russian will be no pushover for the World Number 6 in the quarters clash.

Khachanov followed up the Wawrinka upset with a facile 6-2, 6-2 win over young Brit Cameron Norrie to seal his passage to the last-eight.

Stefanos Tsitsipas holds 2-0 lead over Karen Khachanov in head-to-head meetings

However, the head-to-head record will give the Greek a measure of confidence and belief going into the showdown later on Thursday.

Tsitsipas currently holds a comfortable 2-0 lead over the 6’6” Russian in head-to-head meetings.

Their last showdown happened at the 2018 ATP Masters 1000 in Shanghai, with a Greek coming out a 6-4, 7-6 winner in the fourth-round clash.

While the World Number 6 would be hoping to extend his lead over the 21st-ranked Russian to 3-0, Khachanov would be similarly determined to set the record straight against the Greek.

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And, going by the form he has shown so far in the tournament, another upset could well be on the cards for the Russian.