-Toronto, Canada
Stefano Tsitispas has been moving up the ladder of the ATP World Tour rankings since the start of the year. He took another step forward on Thursday in Toronto. The 19-year old from Greece played some excellent tennis on Centre Court defeating the Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 in the third round of the Rogers Cup.
Tsitsipas who reached the Semi-Finals in Washington last week, made his move early against the four-time champion in Canada. In the seventh game of the opening set. Tsitsipas earned three break point chances and converted on the final one after Djokovic hit one of his 37 unforced errors long.
Djokovic was unable to create a single break chance in the opening set and Tsitispas held at Love to solidify the opening set. The World No. 27, who started the year at No.91, didn’t miss a single return of serve in the set.
In the second set the players held serve throughout. Tsitspas was the only player able to generate any break chances, both of those coming in the ninth game. The players went to a tiebreak and Djokovic got off to an early 2-0 lead. After a Tsitsipas forehand went long, the World No. 10 had three set points to even up the match. He challenged on the following two points, losing both but Tsitsipas hit a slice forehand long and the set belonged to Djokovic.
In the third, Djokovic appeared agitated. He didn’t like the speed in which the ball kids were getting him the balls before serving. It seemed to disrupt his rhythm and in the end it proved to be costly. Tsitispas worked another break point opportunity and a beautiful one-handed backhand down the line gave him an early break to go up 2-0.
In the following game, Djokovic mustered up the only two break chances he could generate in the entire match but a Djokovic forehand went long and a good serve into the body bu Tsitsipas put a stop to that. After the youngster went on to hold his serve, the 13-time Grand Slam champ snapped his racquet in half in frustration, neatly placing the damage under his seat.
The seventh game of the set showed just how far Tsitsipas has come. He seemed loose, not in the least bit intimidated playing one of the greats of the game. He ripped a couple of forehand winners giving him a 5-2 lead.
Despite struggling to get his first serve in play, another of Tsitsipas’ 26 forehand winners found the line giving him two match points. After a big serve out wide and yet another forehand winner, Tsitipas had the biggest win of his young career to his name.
“It has big value for me, this win. I feel very proud for me and my country, I am putting Greece more deep into the map of tennis. It was a very emotional win, I’ve never felt so many emotions after a victory”
The native of Athens finished with 42 winners, 34 unforced errors and 11 aces. He also won 15 of his 22 points at the net. Toronto will be his seventh career quarter-final and first in a Masters 1000 event. His win over Djokovic was already his sixth against Top 10 players in his career.
“Having the opportunity to practice plenty of times with him, get used to the style he uses on the court helped me be confident in this match today and help me execute my game, my plan,” Tsitsipas said. “I was prepared for some certain things he would do on the court, I waited for my opportunities and I got them.”
“He is definitely one of the leaders of the Next Gen without a doubt especially this season,” said Djokovic. “He’s had some terrific results and some terrific wins. He is showing a lot of commitment, a lot of discipline. He’s putting in the hours in the gym and on the tennis court and it’s paying off.”
Next up for Tsitispas will be Alexander Zverev in the quarter-finals, a rematch of their semi-final meeting last week in Washington. Zverev won that match in straight sets. No matter the result, Greece will most likely have a tennis player in the Top 20 in the world when the new World Rankings come out next week.
