Tsitsipas Destroys Medvedev, Advances to French Open Semifinal

Greek tennis star Stefanos Tsitsipas has advanced to the semi-finals of the French Open held at Paris’ Roland Garros Stadium for the second year in a row.

Tsitsipas defeated the Russian Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 7-6 (3), 7-5 today in the quarter final on the Court Philppe Chatrier at Roland Garros. Tsitsipas is currently ranked No. 5 while Medvedev is ranked No. 2 in the world.

The Greek phenom will face the German Alexander Zverev in the semi-final this Thursday, June 10th.

Tsitsipas began dominating early on in the match, leading with 3-1. Medvedev eventually evened the match to 3-3, but was defeated by Tsitsipas’s backhand return of his under-handed serve at match point.

“I was playing against one of the best guys on the tour, so I had to keep the intensity up and elevate my game during the entire match,” Tsitsipas commented after the win.

“I felt that I was playing really well and not giving him a lot of space. I think that my performance was close to being one of my best this week, I would say. I’m really happy with that.

“Being here on clay in Paris brings back good memories, I’m happy to keep on repeating that and trying to go further day by day.”

Stefanos Tsitsipas is the star of the next generation

Tsitsipas secured a place in the Barcelona Open Final with a 2-0 set victory over Italian Jannik Sinner this past April. The week before, Tsitsipas won the final of Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, also beating sixth seed Andrey Rublev in straight sets (6-3, 6-3).

“I stepped up my game, brought this good game, good tennis. I didn’t see any reason for me to leave from here without the trophy. I felt like I deserved it,” he said after his victory at Monte-Carlo.

Appearing in his third final at that level, Tsitsipas dropped just four points behind his first serve (24/28) to capture the second biggest title of his career after 71 minutes.

The Greek player is the youngest 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 ever in history.

Tsitsipas 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.

Born into a tennis family where his mother Julia Apostoli was a professional on the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) tour and his father was trained as a tennis coach, Tsitsipas was introduced to the sport at age three and began taking lessons at age six.

Apostoli, who also played in the Fed Cup for the Soviet Union, reached a career-high ranking of 130.

As a junior, Tsitsipas was ranked No. 1 in the world. He also became the third Greek player, and first Greek male in the Open Era, to win a junior Grand Slam title with a victory in the 2016 Wimbledon boys’ doubles event.