Tsitsipas reaches his fifth Masters 1,000 final

Stefanos Tsitsipas will play his fifth Masters 1,000 final after coming back and beating Alexander Zverev 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the Rome semifinals. It was the third duel between the two in a month in the penultimate round of a tournament in this category, since they had met in Monte Carlo, with the victory of the Greek, ultimately champion, and in Madrid, with victory of the German, who fell in the title match against Carlos Alcaraz. Tsitsipas will face Novak Djokovic or Casper Ruud this Sunday (not before 4:00 p.m., #Vamos), in search of his third trophy in a 1,000.

Tsitsipas imposed his good face-to-face (8-4 now, 4-1 on clay) against Zverev. This time he changed the trend that said the winner of the first set in 10 of their last 11 meetings ended up winning. On this occasion, the Athenian reversed it and asserted her status as leader in wins of the season. He already has 31, ahead of Alcaraz (28). Since 2018, he is second with 215, tied precisely with Zverev. and only below Djokovic (216). At 23 years old, he has yet to win a Grand Slam (he was close to the title at Roland Garros last year) and has eight wounds.

Tsitsipas and Zverev, the only players who have been able to be at least semi-finalists in the three clay Masters 1,000 (Monte Carlo, Madrid and Rome), offered a good show at the Foro Italico. The Greek had a lot of patience, played a lot in the center and knew how to wait for the Teuton’s mistakes. He used a lot of head and thus counteracted the accumulated fatigue that he showed, especially in the third set. The energy spent in past games and in coming back this Saturday, did not take its toll thanks to that underdog work that caused 41 unforced errors in Zverev’s game, who did good things, but fell into the trap of one of his fiercest rivals. Two of the best of the course, they did not disappoint with some nice long exchanges, although Stefanos took the cake, finer in important moments. Tsitsipas will need a good rest to face the challenge that remains in Italy with guarantees. But it is in a very good line.

Service Management

“I think the difference has been in knowing how to handle my serve with precision. That has been very relevant. There was a moment, at the beginning of the first set, when I made mistakes after my serve. Then I was able to fix it in the second, when I found my best game with other weapons and executed them intelligently.”Tsitsipas said. “I waited when I had to, because he made me work hard on every point. I’m very proud of how I turned things around and how I read the game and understood what worked,” he added.