Tsitsipas is undefeated against the players still in his half of the draw, going 7-0.
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In a tight five-set victory on Sunday night, Stefanos Tsitsipas defeated Jannik Sinner’s comeback attempt to advance to yet another Australian Open quarterfinal. In front of Rod Laver in the stadium that carries his name, Tsitsipas saved 22 of 26 break points, many of which came while playing his attacking style of tennis, on route to a 6-4 6-4 3-6 4-6 6-3 victory in four hours. The Greek star had been outmatched by Sinner’s power and sprinkling of finesse in the first two sets, but Tsitsipas converted on five of his 11 opportunities, breaking through for 4-2 in the fifth. In his last five trips to Melbourne Park, Tsitsipas has reached the quarterfinals four times; the one exception was in 2020, when Milos Raonic, a Wimbledon finalist, was required to overcome him. Tsitsipas told interviewer Jim Courier on the court, “I felt like I spent an entire century on this court playing.” “It felt like forever. What an amazing night. That was outstanding, a real ripper, “He continued, eliciting laughter. “In the third and fourth sets, I had a great opponent who played unbelievable tennis on the other side of the court. remained incredibly composed, just like Mr. Rod Laver used to.”
Tsitsipas wasn’t sure he would be able to play AO 22 when he started the previous season having just undergone elbow surgery. He did. He perhaps gave his best effort against Sinner in the quarterfinals, which helped him advance to the semifinals. Tsitsipas won a healthy 60% of points off his second serve to coast to a 6-3 6-4 6-2 victory at that time because he didn’t have to contend with a break opportunity. In five matches against Tsitsipas, the Italian only managed one victory on clay in 2020. Sinner had to come from behind to defeat the extremely fit Marton Fucsovics in five sets, while the third seed advanced without dropping a set to the fourth round. The final three sets went 6-1 6-2 6-0, with the Hungarian’s backhand being targeted, and the 15th seed finished off his first comeback from a two-set deficit. In the end, Sunday came close to being comeback number two.
Tsitsipas has only ever lost after leading by two sets once; it happened in the French Open final of 2021 against Novak Djokovic, who has now won 21 Grand Slam titles. The seedings in Melbourne indicated a quarterfinal between Tsitsipas, Felix Auger, and Aliassime. However, Jiri Lehecka, who defeated the Canadian earlier on Sunday, will be Tsitsipas’ opponent in the round of eight. The Next Gen star’s first indoor competition in Rotterdam in February 2022 came to an end in the semifinals in three sets against Tsitsipas. Overall, Tsitsipas is undefeated against the players still in his half of the draw, going 7-0.
Will Sinner be upset over not making the quarterfinals? Of course, especially now that he was around once more. He lost to Djokovic in five sets at Wimbledon and Carlos Alcaraz in a thrilling battle in 2022’s US Open, dropping to 1-4 against the top 10 in a major. But going up against Tsitsipas at Melbourne Park is no easy feat.
