By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Thursday March 11, 2021
Stefanos Tsitsipas rolled past Lucas Pouille to book his spot in the quarterfinals at Open 13 Provence.
Photo Source: AP
Stefanos Tsitsipas isn’t counting his chickens before they hatch at the Open 13 in Marseille. The two-time defending champion eased past France’s Lucas Pouille on Thursday, 6-3, 6-2, but he knows there's a lot more work to be done if he is to make it a threepeat.
Tsitsipas has now won nine straight matches and 18 straight sets at the Open 13 but the Greek star isn't about to get too cocky about it.
“I’ve done it twice,” he said of his titles at Marseille in 2019 and 2020. “Nadal has done it 13 times at the French, so I think once I reach that amount, it might be a good question to answer, but so far, two times is great, but the tournament doesn’t belong to me yet, I still have a long way to go.”
Tsitsipas will face another Frenchman on Friday, Pierre-Hugues Herbert. Herbert took down Cameron Norrie, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the last eight. Tsitsipas knows he’ll have to be ready to deal with a lot of aggression from the crafty Frenchman, who is a world-class doubles player and a frequent serve-and-volleyer.
“He likes to rush, he likes to finish points early, he likes to attack a lot,” Tsitsipas said of the 93rd-ranked Herbert. “It’s a very different style from most players, but again he’s dangerous if he finds the angles and he finds the spots. So with him I’ll just have to get more balls in.
I think also defense will be really important tomorrow. I’m an aggressive player but I think I’ll also have to focus on defense a lot. I will need to be patient and also press at the same time when I have opportunity.”
In other action on Thursday, Daniil Medvedev dispatched Egor Gerasimov to improve to 11-2 on the season, 6-2, 6-4. The victory sets up a mouthwatering quarterfinal between Medvedev and 19-year-old Italian Jannick Sinner.
Arthur Rinderknech, a French qualifier, was the other winner on Thursday. He defeated Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.
Here is how the quarterfinals shape up: