Greek Tennis player Stefanos Tsitsipas boosted his hopes for semifinal spot after clinching a win over Russia's Daniil Medvedev at the ongoing ATP Finals on Thursday.
Tsitspas defeated Medvedev by 6-3, 6-7(11), 7-6(1) to boost his chances for the final four in Turin.
In their 11th head-to-head meeting, it was Tsitsipas who prevailed in a topsy-turvy clash.
Tsitsipas and Medvedev put on a late-night show with fierce ball striking and all-court play. The Greek was impressive in the first set, winning 93 per cent of points at the net and striking 12 winners.
During the second set, the Greek squandered three match points. He regained his focus, rallying from 3-5 in the third set to eventually winning the two-hour 21-minute clash. With this win, his record against Medvedev improved to 4-7.
"It was very tiring out there," said Tsitsipas as quoted by daniATP. "I am so glad I overcame this and I was able to enjoy it with the crowd. It is a great win and I am extremely proud of the way I thought. It never seemed to kind of be ending for me. Even on the last game when he was serving, I still felt if I was able to put a few balls in, some opportunity might present [itself], and it did."
"It was great to get back into the match, I felt reborn, and what a great way to end it," he added.
This was his tour-leading 61st win of the season and the 24-year old will be facing Andrey Rublev on Friday in a winner-takes-all match, with Novak Djokovic already having qualified for semis.
Tsitsipas aims to become the 11th player to win multiple ATP Final title, winning his previous one in 2019 by defeating Dominic Thiem in final. Medvedev won the trophy in 2020. The 26-year-old is out of this year's edition, though, after a loss to Andrey Rublev this week.
"[It was] terrible to not serve it out, especially on such [a] fast court," Medvedev said in his post-match press conference. "I lost my [serve] in the first game of the match, which is never good, but can happen. You need some time to get into the match."
"Then I did not face a break point until I got a break in the third [set]. I didn't really feel much nerves. I just had to play better and serve better."
( With inputs from ANI )
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