Reuters
Tennis – French Open – Roland Garros, Paris, France – Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas in action during his fourth round match against Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov REUTERS/Christian Hartmann
Reuters
Tennis – French Open – Roland Garros, Paris, France – Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas in action during his fourth round match against Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov REUTERS/Christian Hartmann
World No. 6 Stefanos Tsitsipas hhas reached the quarterfinals of the French Open for the first time in his career. Tsitsipas saved two set points in the second set tie-break and defeated Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets in the fourth round. Tsitsipas became the first Greek player to reach the Roland Garros quarterfinals.
The 22-year-old has now won twelve successive sets after having lost the opening two sets in his first-round match against Jaume Munar. The No. 5 seed Tsitsipas will face arch-rival Andrey Rublev in the quarterfinals. The duo squared off against each other in the final of the Hamburg Open recently. Rublev won that thrilling final in three sets.
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Reuters
Tennis – French Open – Roland Garros, Paris, France – Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas celebrates winning his fourth round match against Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov REUTERS/Christian Hartmann
During the post-match conference, Tsitsipas talked about knowing Rublev since childhood and how his opponent’s game was amazing on all fronts.
“He has improved a lot… It is very important for me to take this opportunity and fight harder this time, maybe do something better… He’s going to be difficult to play against. He has a very complete, solid game from all the departments,” said Tsitsipas.
Stefanos Tsitsipas faces a tough challenge
No. 13 seed Rublev defeated Marton Fucsovics in the fourth round in hard-fought four sets. Despite losing the opening set and being 2-5 down in the second set, Rublev clawed back to reach the quarterfinals of the French Open for the first time.
Reuters
Tennis – French Open – Roland Garros, Paris, France – Russia’s Andrey Rublev in action during his fourth round match against Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics REUTERS/Charles Platiau
Tsitsipas admitted that facing Rublev will be an enormous challenge and talked about the duo having a similar game style. The Greek contended that he will have to be wary of Rublev’s powerful serves. The two have faced each other thrice, with Rublev leading the head-to-head 2-1.
“He has improved a lot his serve. He relies a lot on his power. He has very powerful shots. We share a similar game style, I would say mine would probably be more coming to the net, using a bit more the angles. He’s a very challenging player to play against. I think he for sure brings the best out of me when I step out on the court to play against him.” remarked Tsitsipas.
In the same draw, World No. 1 Novak Djokovic has defeated Karen Khachanov in straight sets to advance to his 11th straight quarterfinal at the French Open. Djokovic will face Pablo Carreno Busta in the last eight.
