Stefanos Tsitsipas battled past Alexander Zverev 7-5 7-6 (7-3) in their 15th head-to-head match to reach the quarter final at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters.
Both players went on serve with no break points in the first four games. Zverev earned a total of four break points in the fifth and seventh games but he was not able to convert them. Tsitsipas broke serve in the 12thgame to win the first set 7-5.
Tsitsipas, who won two editions of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters in 2021 and 2022, broke twice in the second and fourth games to race out to a 5-0 lead. The Greek player blew a 5-0 lead and was not able to convert two match points before Zverev pulled both breaks back in the seventh and ninth games and won five straight game to draw level to 5-5. Zverev started the tie-break with an early mini-break. Tsitsipas earned three mini-breaks to win the tie-break 7-3 after 2 hours and 6 minutes setting up a quarter final match against Danil Medvedev.
Tsitsipas hit 24 winners to 16 unforced errors.
Tsitsipas has improved his head-to-head record to Zverev to 10-5.
“I could call it an adventure of a lifetime. Something I am not faced with every single day and momentum shifted dramatically at some points. It went one way and then it went completely the other way again. I don’t even know, I am trying to figure out right now what happened. I was 5-0 in the second set. However, things looked pretty good in the tie-break, especially when I got the mini-break. It’s a big win. I am grateful I was able to play the way I did today. It took a lot of mental strength throughout the entire match. It was very consistent from the beginning to the end. I felt very dominant from the baseline. I was able to create pace and open the court, which helped me a lot. There is more tennis to be played. I am excited to see what the future holds. Today’s match was a great assessment to how much I can fight in tough moments”, said Tsitsipas.
Alex De Minaur beat his compatriot Alekei Popyrin 6-3 6-4 in an all Australian third round match to become the first Australian player to reach the quarter final at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters since Mark Philppousis in 1999.
De Minaur made just three unforced errors and broke Popyrin’s serve four times. De Minaur broke twice in the seventh and ninth games to win the first set 6-3. De Minaur broke in the eighth game of the second set to take a 5-3 lead. Popyrin converted his only break point in the ninth game in the ninth game for 4-5. De Minaur earned the decisive break in the 10th game to seal the second set 6-4.
