Tsitsipas maintained control throughout the hour-and-twenty-one minute match at the clay-court ATP 500, dominating De Minaur.
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Stefanos Tsitsipas defeated Alex de Minaur 6-4, 6-2 on Friday to advance to the semi-finals of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell and keep his perfect record against the Australian. Tsitsipas maintained control throughout the hour-and-twenty-one minute match at the clay-court ATP 500, dominating De Minaur and moving to a perfect 9-0 record in their ATP head-to-head series. The second seed set up a semifinal matchup against Italian Lorenzo Musetti with his 19th victory of the year. Musetti, the ninth seed, was given a walkover by Jannik Sinner earlier in the day on Friday.
De Minaur wanted to make it to the semi-finals for the second year in a row in Barcelona. The 24-year-old has a 14-8 record so far this year, with his February victory in Acapulco serving as a season high point.
“I would say that my shots were heavy,” Tsitsipas said. “I was able to control most of them and navigate him around the court on both my forehand and backhand. My patience was there. I knew that was the foundation of the match. I am satisfied with my return game, especially towards the end. I found myself in a very good position to press early on and look for the forehand and use my backhand when necessary as well.”
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Tsitsipas has pleasant memories of Barcelona because he twice made it to the championship game. If the 24-year-old wins his fifth clay-court tour-level championship this week in Spain, he will move up to fourth in the world rankings.
At the Barcelona Open on Wednesday, Jannik Sinner maintained composure to defeat Diego Schwartzman and earn his 25th tour-level victory of 2023. On Pista Rafa Nadal, the fourth-seeded Italian prevailed over a typically tenacious Schwartzman, who dug especially deep in the tumultuous second set. After dominating the first set, Sinner won four of the seven serve breaks in the second to complete a one-hour, forty-minute victory in the ATP 500 match.
In order to reach his sixth quarterfinal appearance in eight tournaments at the tour level this year, Sinner will take on Yoshihito Nishioka in the third round. At the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona-1899, the Japanese 16th seed Nishioka earlier defeated David Goffin 6-1, 7-5.
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