Stefanos Tsitsipas defeats Medvedev in dominant fashion to reach the semi-finals
In what looked like it would be one of the best matches of the tournament so far on the men’s side, turned out to be a straightforward win for the 5th seed from Greece. Stefanos Tsitsipas defeats Daniil Medvedev in the quarterfinals of Roland Garros 6-3, 7-6(3), 7-5 in two hours and 19 minutes.
This was the eighth meeting between the two, as Stefanos has his second victory over Medvedev in his career. Tsitsipas is now through to the semi-finals of the French Open for the second year in a row.
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Tsitsipas started off really strong in the first set, winning 85% of the points on his first serve, and 75% on his second. He was dictating the points, leading to 11 winners and just six unforced errors in the set, according to Infosys Match Centre. Medvedev on the other hand had only six winners to go along with 12 unforced errors. Tsitsipas would get the lone break in the set, and would take the first 6-3.
The second set was much closer, as it was one that Medvedev should have won. With Tsitsipas serving down 4-5, Medvedev had two set points at 15-40. Medvedev was unable to convert though, missing a second serve return in the net on the first break point, and throwing in another unforced error on the second. The set would eventually go to a tiebreak, where Tsitsipas lifted his game once again, jumping out to an early 3-0 lead. He would not look back, as he took the tiebreak 7-3 to take a two sets to love lead.
Medvedev had plenty of opportunities in the third set to get back in this match, but was unable to win the big points. He had five chances to break in the set, but only converted on one of them, while Tsitsipas had four break points, and converted twice. The final break would come in the last game of the match, as Medvedev let a 40-0 lead in his service game slip away, as Tsitsipas finished the match in style, hitting a backhand winner down the line off of a Medvedev underhand serve.
For Tsitsipas, he will be up against Alexander Zverev in the semi-finals, as Zverev advanced earlier in the day after defeating Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in straight sets.