Stefanos Tsitsipas yesterday maintained his perfect record in Grand Slam quarter-finals, beating No. 11 seed Jannick Sinner 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 to reach the semi-finals at the Australian Open.
The 23-year-old, No. 4-ranked Tsitsipas improved to 5-0 at this stage of a major.
It is the semi-finals that he is yet to master, winning just one — at Roland Garros last year — from four so far.
Photo: Reuters
He is to play Daniil Medvedev, who beat Felix Auger-Aliassime later yesterday.
Tsitsipas did not face a break point and converted all four he got on Sinner’s serve in the match that lasted just over 2 hours, considerably less than his five-set fourth-round win over Taylor Fritz.
The only real delay came from a weather disruption, when a late-afternoon storm meant the roof over Rod Laver Arena had to be closed when the Greek star was already up a set and a break.
Photo: AP
“I knew I was heading toward the right direction,” Tsitsipas said. “The conditions might have changed a little bit after the roof was closed — slightly faster, not as bouncy as before. I tried to adapt to the new conditions, and it just worked.”
Dozens of ball kids and staff used towels to soak up water on the court in the 15 minute break.
In the night game, Russia’s Medvedev staged a stirring comeback from two sets down to reel in Canadian Auger-Aliassime and claw his way into the last four.
Medvedev looked out for the count as ninth seed Auger-Aliassime held match point in the fourth set, but battled back to win 6-7 (4/7), 3-6, 7-6 (7/2), 7-5, 6-4.
In the women’s singles, Iga Swiatek took three hours in the afternoon heat to beat 36-year-old Kaia Kanepi 4-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-3, with the payoff being a spot in the semi-finals against Danielle Collins.
“This match was crazy,” the 20-year-old 2020 French Open winner said. “First set I think my mistake was I had so many break points, I felt like I missed my chances. In the second set, I felt like she’s playing so fast that I can’t be tight. I had to finish my forehands.”
The temperature reached 36°C on day 10, continuing a week of hot weather.
Collins won the opening match before the heat peaked, swinging it in her favor with a key service break in the final game of the opening set on her way to a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Alize Cornet.
No. 115-ranked Kanepi was coming off an upset, three-set win over No. 2-ranked Aryna Sabalenka and took the match to Swiatek, who saved nine set points before losing the first set.
Swiatek rallied in the second, exchanging service breaks twice before winning it in a tiebreaker.
After getting on top in the the third, Swiatek was broken in the eighth game when she was serving for the match.
She eventually clinched on Kanepi’s serve, scrambling to stay in the last point until the Estonian player sent a forehand wide.
After the first three quarter-finals were decided in straight sets — Ash Barty beat Jessica Pegula and Madison Keys beat Barbora Krejcikova on Tuesday — the last one went all the way.
As she left the court, Swiatek wrote on the TV camera lens: “Thank you for the support. #Tired.”
Collins’ win means there are two Americans in the last four.
Keys, who was the 2017 US Open runner-up, is to play reigning Wimbledon and 2019 French Open winner Barty.
Additional reporting by AFP
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