Tsitsipas to face Alexander Zverev for place in semi-finals on Friday
Friday 10 August 2018 16:39, UK
Greek teenage star Stefanos Tsitsipas reached his maiden Masters 1000 quarter-final with a stunning performance to defeat Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic at the Rogers Cup in Toronto.
Tsitsipas, who turns 20 on Sunday, followed up his defeat of seventh seed Dominic Thiem by ending Djokovic's hopes of landing a fifth Rogers Cup title with a calm and composed 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 victory on Thursday.
The ninth-seeded Serb, competing in his first tournament since his Wimbledon triumph last month, was unable to break down Next Gen star Tsitsipas, ranked 27, over the course of the match lasting two hours and 17 minutes.
"It's a dream of any kid out there in this world, any kid that's playing tennis, to beat these kinds of players, so I can call it the best moment of my life," a shocked Tsitsipas said in an on-court interview. "I never expected to beat such a top-ranked player and such a high-respected player like Novak."
It was just Djokovic's fourth loss in his last 25 matches while the talented Greek with so many natural gifts at his disposal now faces a quarter-final clash with German second seed Alexander Zverev.
Zverev, who successfully defended his Washington title last week, brushed aside Russian Daniil Medvedev 6-3 6-2.
In the day's other matches, fifth-seeded Grigor Dimitrov squeezed past young American hope Frances Tiafoe 7-6 (7-1) 3-6 7-6 (7-4) to set up a last-eight meeting with Wimbledon finalist Kevin Anderson after the South African dispatched Belarusian Ilya Ivashka 7-5 6-3.
"It's great, I haven't competed in about four and a half weeks. And to come out and just play, I mean, that's all I wanted," said ATP World Tour Finals champion Dimitrov. "I was really not focusing on winning or losing, just on starting to play good tennis and start building the right habits."
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