It took Stefanos Tsitsipas two hours and fifteen minutes to overcome the obstacle of Danil Medvedev (world No.2) and fly to the semi-finals of Roland Garros, where the also in-form Sasha Zverev is waiting for him.
It is said that great athletes can be seen in the transgressions they are asked to make during their careers. Stefanos Tsitsipas achieved such a feat on Tuesday night, 08/06, on the court of the French Open, against his previously evil demon. In the 7 previous encounters between them, the Russian had won 6 of them. And yet, Stefanos, this time, did not bend psychologically. He left the statistics and history to the experts and concentrated on a job he was called upon to accomplish. And he did it with the style, drive and determination that show an athlete worked for great things.
The top Greek tennis player entered the match with his eye shining. In the fourth game he scored the first break and after half an hour he won the first set. One of the same in the second set, with the break coming in the third game. The Russian, somewhere in there, woke up and, armed with a backhand, answered Stefanos' break for 3-3. He then even found himself with two sets point, with Stefanos serving at 4-5 to stay in the set. The Greek tennis player, however, showed incredible maturity and took the set to the tie-break and in triumphant fashion, he made it 2-0.
The third set was also close, with both players trying to take the lead from the start. In the end, Danil broke first (2-3), but Steph got it back in the eighth game (4-4) to make it 6-5, where the Russian served under pressure...
And while he was doing great, taking a 40-0 lead, Steph turned the match upside down and managed to close the match in a celebration! The Russian, in fact, was fooled by the underarm serve on the last point, after Tsitsipas caught him off guard.
The numbers show the... distance between the two players: Steph had 38 winners and 24 wickets, while Danil had 31 and 44 respectively. The 22-year-old tennis player's percentage on the second serve was excellent, behind which he took 27 of 36 points.
It is the third Grand Slam semi-final in a row (fourth overall) for the young tennis player, indicative of the terrible condition he is in. And Zverev may also be... sweeping lately, but you have to note two things: he has never beaten a Top 10 tennis player in a Grand Slam and he is 2-5 in head to head with Steph.
Either way, Steph is the best player this season, the best player this year on dirt and is the favorite to make the final. And there, anything can happen!
