LONDON, November 13, 2019
Stefanos Tsitispias defeated defending Nitto ATP Finals champion Alexander Zverev 6-3, 6-2 on Wednesday evening to qualify for the semi-finals in London. The No. 6 seed from Greece, who beat Daniil Medvedev in his opening round-robin match in Group Andre Agassi on Monday, hit eight aces and only lost five points on his first serve en route to his 52nd victory of the season after one hour and 13 minutes.
AWESOME performance from @StefTsitsipas 🙌
The Greek defeats Zverev 6-3 6-2 to guarantee his place in the semis at the #NittoATPFinals 👌
🎥: @TennisTV pic.twitter.com/xrewWtHWIH
— ATP Tour (@atptour) November 13, 2019
“I can say I’m surprised by my performance today. I did everything right and once again it was not just me but a whole bunch of excited people came to support me,” Tsitsipas said during his post-match on-court interview.
“It was a crew situation. I’m just playing my game. I have a clear picture, a clear mindset on court. I’ve been mixing my game a lot, trying to be unpredictable. I think my serve has improved tremendously over the last couple of months. Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, all these celebrities have been here so I’m really glad to have been here. It makes it a very special place.”
Herbert/Mahut into semi-finals
Earlier in the evening, Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut defeated reigning Roland Garros champions Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies 7-5, 7-6(3) in one hour and 33 minutes in Group Max Mirnyi.
“We didn’t know before the match [that we needed to win in straight sets to qualify tonight]. We just wanted to come on court and win this match,” said Mahut. “I knew we had to play [at a] really high level and I think it is what we did today. We had a great start and they came back really strong… We are really happy with the win.”
With the win over the Germans, the French duo clinched their place in the semi-finals. “They played really well. A high-level match. They put a lot of returns in and played really well. I am happy that we stayed together, even in the tough moments,” said Herbert. “We were a break down in the second. I got broken twice in a row, I stayed in it and we managed to win this second set. That is what I am most proud of.”
