Stefanos Tsitsipas lost the seminal of the Australian Open to fourth seeded Daniil Medvedev in straight sets on Friday.
The Greek champion, who looked tired after Wednesday’s epic battle with Rafael Nadal, lost the match by a score of 4-6, 2-6, 5-7.
The 22-year-old made a bit of a comeback in the third set when he broke Medvedev’s serve, but this was not enough.
Throughout the match he looked very much second-best to Medvedev, to the huge disappointment of the crowd, which was solidly behind the Greek.
Tsitsipas definitely getting the youth vote tonight pic.twitter.com/sIgO31IMy8
— The Tennis Podcast (@TennisPodcast) February 19, 2021
The Russian ace hasn’t lost a match (20-0) since October of 2020. He will now meet world number one Novak Djokovic at the final of the Australian Open.
Tsitsipas is just 1-6 against the streaking Russian, though he did claim their previous encounter at the 2019 Nitto ATP Finals.
Medvedev after the game said that despite winning 3-0 sets, it was not easy.
“(It was) definitely not easy, it was like his match against Rafa. I got a little bit scared. I was happy I could turn my game on and win the match.
“I just try to hit aces and winners and keep the ball in the court. I saw as soon as I was moving him around the court, it was not easy for him.”
“Difficult task”
“Medvedev is going to be a difficult task,” admitted Tsitsipas before the game.
“He’s in very good shape, playing good tennis, playing accurate, playing simple.
“(I) might have said in the past that he plays boring, but I don’t really think he plays boring. He just plays extremely smart and outplays you.
“He’s somebody I really need to be careful with and just take my chances and press.”
Medvedev made quick work of his quarterfinal opponent, needing just over two hours to dispatch countryman and ATP Cup teammate Andrey Rublev.
Playing authoritative, thinking man’s tennis, the 25-year-old is into his third Grand Slam final.
Tsitsipas: youngest player ranked in the top 10
Tsitsipas is the youngest player to ever be ranked in the top 10 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and has a career-high ranking of No. 5 in the world, making him the highest-ranked Greek player in history.
He was the champion at the 2019 ATP Finals, becoming the youngest winner of the year-end championships in eighteen years. He has won five singles titles and reached ten finals on the ATP Tour.
He has also reached two Grand Slam semifinals — at the 2019 Australian Open and the 2020 French Open.
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
