Rogers Cup: Tsitsipas Emotional After Beating Djokovic, Nadal Progresses To Quarterfinals
Stefanos Tsitsipas’ 2018 season continues to go from strength to strength after he recorded a stunning win over Novak Djokovic in the third round of the Rogers Cup on Thursday.
The Greek tennis sensation has impressed throughout the season and earlier this week became just the second teenager to be currently ranked inside the top-30 with Denis Shapovalov being the other and the latter is just one place ahead ranked number 26 in the world.
Tsitsipas has recorded wins over top ten players earlier in the season with his best result coming at the Barcelona Open, when he made the final, only to lose to the “king of clay” Rafael Nadal.
The 19-year-old also showed he was good on all surfaces, a rarity among the younger generation, after making the round of 16 at the Wimbledon Championships earlier this year. Tsitsipas made the semi-finals at the Citi Open in Washington last week, where he lost to Alexander Zverev, his opponent in the quarterfinals at the Rogers Cup on Friday.
The Greek tennis player’s ranking is likely to rise again with his impressive run in Toronto, where he first beat seventh seed Dominic Thiem in the second round before dispatching reigning Wimbledon champion Djokovic 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 in two hours and 16 minutes.
Tsitsipas admitted he was proud to be putting Greece on the tennis map, while revealing it was an emotional win for him and his family. The teenager was happy with his game, especially on the service side and revealed he had a plan against Djokovic, who has very few weaknesses in his game.
"I feel very proud for me, myself, and my country. I'm putting Greece more deep into the map of tennis. So I'm pretty sure I'm making my family proud, all of those people that are watching, my coach, my father. It was a very emotional win," Tsitsipas said after the win, as per the ATP site. "I've never felt so many emotions after a victory."
"I was serving well, so that break was everything. It gave me the win at the end. And serving, [it was] unbelievable. [I was] returning pretty well here and there during the match. Yeah, [it is the] best win of my career."
"I knew he had some issues in some particular shots in his game, I would say. So I was waiting and I grabbed him like a bulldog and stuck there and executed, I executed my plan," Tsitsipas added. "I knew that at some point he's going to break, and I just patiently waited for this moment and it happened."
Meanwhile, world number Rafael Nadal also progressed to the quarterfinals of the Rogers Cup with a hard fought win over Stan Wawrinka. The match which was delayed by rain eventually ended 7-5, 7-6 after two hours and 45 minutes.
The Swiss — former world number three — played some of his best tennis in months since returning from knee injury. It is only the second time this season Wawrinka has won back-to-back matches to make it into the third round of a tournament.
“It was a good match. Of course, a very positive victory for me against a very tough opponent. Happy to see Stan playing that well again,” Nadal said after his win on Thursday evening. “So I am very pleased. That's what I needed, a match like this to be a little bit more confident and I did it.”
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