By Alberto Amalfi | Friday, April 15, 2022
Down 0-4 in the final set, Stefanos Tsitsipas won six straight games subduing Diego Schwartzman 6-2, 6-7(3), 6-4 to set up a Monte-Carlo semifinal vs. Alexander Zverev.
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A dramatic dive inspired Stefanos Tsitsipas’ rousing revival.
Scraping himself up off the dirt, Tsitsipas battled back from a dire 0-4 deficit in the final set tearing through six straight games subduing Diego Schwartzman 6-2, 6-7(3), 6-4 to reach his second straight Monte-Carlo semifinal.
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This was a wild clash of crazy streaks, momentum lost and regained and some superb shotmaking. A tremendous Tsitsipas diving backhand volley helped him earn match point and left Schwartzman looking stunned.
The defending Monte Carlo champion was on course for a routine straight-sets win, but blew a 6-2, 5-2 lead.
An inspired Schwartzman surged through eight of nine games and was one point from a 5-0 lead when Tsitsipas turned it on and found a higher gear.
Tsitsipas said a simple shift in mind-set keyed his comeback: He just tried to extend his stay as long as possible.
“I think I let go,” Tsitsipas told the media in Monte-Carlo. “There was a moment in the match where I felt like what I was trying to do out on the court wasn't really working. He seemed to have a massive lead and a massive momentum in what he was trying to do.
“I just tried to stay as much as I could. I wanted to stay as long as possible on court. That worked out very well. I wasn't really expecting much, a break down... I think I loosened up a little bit and focused on shot after shot, not too much on what I'm trying to achieve straightaway.”
A brilliant diving backhand volley gave Tsitsipas match point and left the back of his shirt streaked with a deep swath of red clay.
The Roland Garros runner-up rose from the dirt and pulled off a remarkable recovery charging into his ninth career Masters semifinal.
The third-seeded Greek improved to 20-7 on the season setting up a blockbuster Saturday semifinal vs. nemesis Alexander Zverev.
The second-seeded Zverev sustained his hopes of attaining the world No. 1 ranking with a gritty 5-7, 6-3, 7-6(5) triumph over Jannik Sinner that spanned three hours, seven minutes.
Zverev pounded 38 winners—six more than Sinner—and converted five of eight break points advancing to his first Monte-Carlo semifinal since 2018.
“Yeah, it means a lot, especially how this year has been going so far for me,” Zverev said. “I've lost a lot of matches like that, so I'm happy that I won this match. It was a very high-level match, so I'm happy with the result.”
The Olympic gold-medal champion charged through 12 of the last 13 points and five of the last six games of the second set to force a decider. Zverev carved out a forehand volley holding for a 3-2 third-set lead. The German took about a five-minute medical timeout for treatment of his right quad and foot.
Despite failing to serve out the match at 5-4, Zverev regrouped in the decisive tiebreaker and drew some crucial forehand errors from Sinner defeating the Italian phenom for the third time in four meetings.
Asked to assess the state of his right leg, which was taped throughout the quarterfinal, Zverev replied: “I don’t know. We’ll see.”
We’ll also see how much bad blood remains in the Zverev-Tsitsipas rivalry.
After Zverev topped Tsitsipas 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(4) to reach the Cincinnati final last August he ripped the Greek’s habit of taking a bathroom break. Zverev asserts Tsitsipas' absences are more than gamesmanship: the Cincinnati champion charges the Greek with receiving direct coaching from his dad, Apostolos, who was seen on camera texting when his son left the court in Cincinnati.
"He's gone for 10-plus minutes. His dad is texting on the phone. He comes out, and all of a sudden his tactic completely changed," Zverev said. "It's not just me but everybody saw it. The whole game plan changes.”
The fifth-ranked Tsitsipas has won six of nine meetings vs. Zverev, including a 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 6-3 Roland Garros semifinal victory last spring.
Tsitsipas is playing to defend a Masters 1000 title for the first time, while Zverev can continue his charge toward the world No. 1 ranking.
“He's one of the best players,” Tsitsipas said of Zverev. “In order to perform against players like him, I really need to bring the best of my game.”