-Toronto, Canada
“I don’t think he played that well. I think the match was absolutely pathetic on all levels. I’m very honest with you guys (press).. I always say when the opponent plays better. I’m probably one of the most honest guys on tour. Today was an absolute pathetic match I don’t even think he played well.”
The thoughts of a frustrated Alexander Zverev, the No. 2 seed and No. 3 player in the World who became the latest victim in Stefanos Tsitsipas’ run in Toronto.
The 19-year old Tsitsipas rallied from a set down, a break down and saved two match points to defeat Zverev 3-6, 7-6 (13-11), 6-4 to advance to the Semi-Finals of the ATP Masters 1000 event, the Rogers Cup. It was the third straight win against a Top-10 opponent for the Greek native. He also upended Dominic Thiem and Novak Djokovic in straight sets to win his past two matches in the tournament.
Zverev, wasn’t entirely wrong in his assessment of the match, but there were some exciting moments and there was some good shotmaking especially in the second set. The stats however side with Zverev. A combined 88 unforced errors between the two players to just 62 winners. Tsitispas’ first serve percentage was just 48-percent. The players also combined for 12 double faults.
Zverev lost the first 8 points of the match and was broken in just the second game. From there though, he settled in and broke back a game later. In the ninth game Tsitispas was up 40-15 but he hit a backhand long and threw in a double fault which gave Zverev an opening. He took advantage with a backhand ripper down the line and then Tsitispas hit one of his backhands wide. The first belonged to Zverev in 31 minutes.
The 21-year old German got his first break of the second set in he fourth game. Tsitsipas made three groundstroke mistakes all three on the forehand side. One long, one wide and one into the net. Zverev suddenly had a 4-1 lead. It looked like the match was going to come to an end in less than an hour.
But hold your horses. Zverev now serving at 5-3 in the second, managed to conjure up two break chances and after a forehand sailed long from the defending champion, the match was back on serve.
A tiebreak was needed to decide the set and it was entertaining. 24 points in all. Zverev had a pair of match points up 6-5 and up 9-8 but wasn’t able to convert. At 11-11 a Zverev double fault and a backhand wide handed the set to Tsitispas. The three-time winner on tour in 2018, threw his racquet to the ground in frustration almost breaking it in half.
In the third, Zverev had five break chances in the third game. Some horrendous service returns did him in and Tsitispas was able to hold. Two games later though, Zverev did get to the Greek’s serve. Tsitsipas went for a rare serve and volley on a second serve. He made the first two shots but then a huge backhand winner and a fist pump gave Zverev a break and the advantage.
However, the lead didn’t last long. Zverev played a terrible service game minutes later which included another double fault and the match was back on even terms. A 25 point rally in the ninth game won by Tsitispas along with a big forehand down the line now gave the 19-year old a 5-4 lead.
Errors, fittingly, was the way the match came to an end. Serving at 30-15, Zverev hit an inside out forehand which was called long. He elected not to challenge it but he should have. Hawk-eye showed the ball was good catching part of the line. Zverev then a hit a low backhand volley long and followed that up with yet another double fault on match point and the Greek youngster the picked up the biggest win of his career and gave him a berth in the Semi-Finals.
“The level of tennis today, in my opinion, was not the highest,” said Tsitispas.”It was all right. People seemed to love it, love the show and everything. But I played — I would say I played okay…I would say I played more clever this time. I kind of fooled him when I was on the court and did some things that he didn’t expect me to do. And I changed my plan since last week. And as I said, I got lots of experience last week and managed to pull it out today in the match.”
“To be honest, we played three sets, and all three sets should have been three, three, and three,” was Zverev’s assessment. “If we would have played best of five, that’s what the score should have been. But as I said, I didn’t feel the ball at all. I didn’t play well. So, you know, a lot of it didn’t depend on me.”
Tsitispas becomes the youngest player since Rafael Nadal in 2006 to defeat three straight Top-10 players in a row in a single tournament. He also guarantees himself a spot in the Top-20 in the World when the new rankings are released on Monday.
He will now face Wimbledon finalist and World No. 4 Kevin Anderson in the final four on Saturday afternoon. (3pm local time). No player has ever won four straight matches against a Top-10 player since the ATP World Tour was formed in 1990.
@Sportshorn
