ATP Madrid: Alexander Zverev loses to Stefanos Tsitsipas
Alexander Zverev has dropped out of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Madrid. The defending champion lost in the quarterfinals to Stefanos Tsitsipas from Greece in three sets.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: May 10, 2019, 10:05 pm
The hut was full when Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas entered the court at Arantxa Sanchez Stadium shortly after 7:30 p.m. local time. A few minutes earlier, Dominic Thiem had ended Roger Federer's ashes comeback, so the duel of the most successful youngsters on the ATP tour was coming up. At the end of 20-year-old Tsitsipas won against 22-year-old Zverev 7-5, 3-6 and 6-2.
You could see from the beginning how much fire there was in this game: Already in the third game, Zverev was involved in a verbal duel with the chair umpire, even allowing supervisor Gerry Armstrong to come onto the field because he had received a warning because the time had been exceeded. The mood calmed down until the eleventh game - when the German gave his serve for the first time. Tsitsipas served with some effort to 7: 5.
Zverev celebrates his equalization
In the second set, Zverev initially missed a few chances, but in turn made the mark for victory with the first break. The 6: 3 celebrated after just under an hour and a half, the previous year's winner celebrated loudly. Zverev was much more offensive compared to the round of 16 against Hubert Hurkacz, but Tsitsipas also kept chasing his balls.
At the beginning of the decision set, Stefanos Tsitsipas then had a hard time warding off Alexander Zverev's chances of breaking. In fact, it was the man from Athens who struck first - in the fourth game, immediately added 4: 1. When the score was 5: 2, Tsitsipas got his first match ball as a setback, the return flew millimeters out. The second, however, was sitting - this time the Greek's forehand ball had just scratched the line.
The winner of the game between Rafael Nadal and Stan Wawrinka is now waiting in the semi-finals.