MADRID, May 12, 2019

Stefanos Tsitsipas claimed his first win in four meetings with Rafael Nadal after a 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 victory on Saturday evening to reach the singles final of the Mutua Madrid Open. The No. 8 seed from Greece moved into his second career ATP Masters 1000 title match, following his first career win over a player ranked in the Top 2.

Tsitsipas saved 11 of the 16 break points he faced, capitalizing on six of his own 14 chances to secure victory in two hours and 34 minutes. The 20-year-old advanced to his fourth final of the season, seeking his third title of the year.

“It means the world. I’m really happy that I proved myself today. I played one of my best games this year,” Tsitsipas said, as quoted on the ATP Tour website. “I’m really happy that I’m fighting, I’m in the zone. I’m enjoying tennis at its fullest potential. It’s really nice to be able to play this way. Today’s victory is just an unbelievable feeling.”

The moment @StefTsitsipas took down the King of Clay in Madrid 👏 pic.twitter.com/n2bLAaX1FR

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) 11. Mai 2019

“I think that it’s more normal what is happening right now, than what happened in the past 14 years,” Nadal said, as quote on the ATP Tour website. “I think I have tennis ahead of me. I have time ahead of me. I’ll be able to try to win this kind of tournament that I was not able to win this year. And what I have to do is to be fit and to play properly and a high tennis level.

“If I manage to do that next year, I think I will still have a very good opportunity to fight for all of these titles and for the rest of the year, I still have two [clay-court] tournaments. And we will see what happens there.”

Tsitsipas will next take on World No.1 and two-time Madrid champion Novak Djokovic, who earned a 7-6(2), 7-6(4) semi-final win over Austria’s Dominic Thiem in two hours and 22 minutes. The 31-year-old from Serbia reached his second final of season following his triumph at the Australian Open and 48th ATP Masters 1000 final of his career. Tsitsipas won the only previous meeting between the two at the Canadian Open in Toronto last year.