By Chris Oddo | Thursday October 4, 2018
Stefanos Tsitsipas is finding his form once again.
After a temporary rough patch that saw the rising Greek lose four of five matches, Tsitsipas has won back-to-back matches for the first time since his run to the Rogers Cup final in Toronto this summer.
On Thursday the World No.15 brilliantly withstood a difficult test from Australia’s Alex de Minaur, 6-3, 5-7, 6-1.
Tsitsipas caught fire early and rarely did he put a foot wrong as he raced out to a set and break lead. But true to form the pugilistic 19-year-old De Minaur kept probing and finally was rewarded for his efforts late in the second set as he saved two match point to push the Greek to a decider.
At that point the Aussie had stretched his run of break points saved to double digits and looked to be headed to an inspiring victory, but Tsitsipas, despite his haggard demeanor, never wavered.
Instead he fought back.
The 20-year-old struck early and often in the third set, breaking three times to sprint away with his 33rd victory of the season. It was a remarkable turnaround for Tsitsipas, who had every right to get down on himself after the frustrating way the second set played out.
“Tennis is such a weird sport sometimes. You can win a match in the third set and it was a matter of one point today. If I would have won one more point — and I didn’t have just one opportunity to do that, I had a couple of them— I could have won that match 6-3, 6-2,” Tsitsipas said, according to ATPWorldTour.com. “But it turned out to be a three-setter, 6-1 in the third, just to show how much a few points could make a huge difference.”
The Greek’s draw won’t get any easier in Tokyo—he’ll face Kei Nishikori in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Richard Gasquet, Kevin Anderson and Jan-Lennard Struff also booked quarterfinal slots on Thursday in Tokyo.
Gasquet closed the evening with a 7-6(4), 7-6(1) victory over 2016 champion Nick Kyrgios. The Frenchman has now won six of seven tiebreakers against the Aussie and he improves to 6-2 lifetime against the 23-year-old.
Gasquet will next face Kevin Anderson, who needed three sets to finish off American Frances Tiafoe, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2. The South African converted three of 13 break points to improve to 3-0 lifetime against the American.
In Thursday’s first semifinal, Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff defeated Jeremy Chardy, 7-6(3), 6-7(2), 6-4, to reach his first hard-court quarterfinal of the season. He’ll face Canada’s Denis Shapovalov in the last eight on Friday in Tokyo.