Stefanos Tsitsipas came out with a very good effort to take down
Alexander Zverev 6-4 6-2 in the Monte-Carlo semifinal.
The World No. 5 struck the ball cleanly throughout, and while Zverev responded with some fierce groundstrokes of his own it was the Greek who produced the goods at crucial moments.
Tsitsipas was involved in one of the most topsy-turvy matches of the year against Schwartzman. The Greek showed no
signs of fatigue from that battle and also avoided the lapses of
concentration to
see victory through against Zverev in 75 minutes.
He said:
“It was good,” said Tsitsipas in his on-court interview. “I don’t know whether the long match gave me some rhythm, but I was able to play good tennis today. I’m happy with the level I was able to execute and come up with some good ideas on the court.”
The third seed’s opponent in Sunday’s final will be Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, after the Spaniard reached a maiden ATP Tour final with a 6-4, 6-7(2), 6-3 win over Grigor Dimitrov earlier on Saturday.
Tsitsipas will take a 2-0 ATP Head2Head series lead over the World No.
46 into Sunday’s clash, but the Greek is not taking anything for granted
against a player who has also beaten World No. 1 Novak Djokovic and Indian Wells champion Taylor Fritz this week.
On that matchup he said:
“It’s going to take a little bit more. He’s on a
good run, in a good rhythm. I’ve played him before, he’s a good
opponent, I’ve had big battles against him and I’m going to try and be
as ready as possible. I know he’s improved from before and I’m going to have that in the back of my head, to produce the best tennis that I can.”