Stefanos Tsitsipas stunned world number one Novak Djokovic in the quarter-final of the ongoing Shanghai Masters 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, on Friday, to set up a semi-final date with Daniil Medvedev.
The Serb had the match in his control and won the first set 6-3 without much trouble from his Greek opponent. However, the second set saw a rejuvenated Tsitsipas, who played impeccable Tennis from there onwards to dethrone the defending champions.
🇬🇷 SUPER STEFANOS 🇬🇷@StefTsitsipas defeats Novak Djokovic for the second time in three attempts & gets his first win over a current World No. 1 to make the #RolexShMasters semi-finals 👏
🎥: @TennisTV | @SH_RolexMasters pic.twitter.com/Aq7ZaBm3te
— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 11, 2019
The world number seven went all guns blazing against the veteran from the second set to defeat him for the second time in his young career in as many occasions.
In terms of number, the match was fought neck-on-neck as both the players produced some of their best Tennis. Tsitsipas scored 11 aces in comparison to Djoko’s eight, while the latter had a better first-serve percentage.
The last two sets took the best out of both the players as they ran the length and breadths of the court and produced some outrageous winners, while the crowd enjoyed a blockbuster show.
After the gruelling battle of over two hours, Tsitsipas finally served for the match against a mentally-exhausted Djokovic. After losing his first two match points, the 21-year-old had his moment in the third.
With this win, Tsitsipas also secured his place in the year-ending ATP Finals in London. On being informed about the same, he looked surprised and sounded unaware about his qualification.
“No way, really? I really had no idea, it is secure, seriously? YES! I wasn’t looking at the rankings and but I am so happy to have qualified for the ATP Finals,” Tsitsipas said in the post-match ceremony.
The Greek has now defeated all of the Big Three in the same season. He first defeated Roger Federer in this year’s Australian Open and followed it up with a masterclass against Rafale Nadal in the Madrid Open before beating Djokovic twice.