Stefanos Tsitsipas’ dream run at the Rogers Cup continued on Friday, as the teenager toppled defending champion Alexander Zverev 3-6, 7-6 (13/11), 6-4 to reach the semi-finals in Toronto.
The win over world No. 3 Zverev looked unlikely when the 19-year-old Greek dropped the first set and fell behind 2-5 in the second.
However, Tsitsipas managed to save two match points and shifted the momentum after edging Zverev in a marathon second-set tiebreak.
Photo: EPA
Extending the match paid off for Tsitsipas, as Zverev made a number of uncharacteristic errors in a tight third set and handed the world No. 27 victory with a double fault on match point.
The win was the Greek’s third straight over a top-10 opponent after he dispatched Dominic Thiem and Novak Djokovic in the previous two rounds.
“I’m confused now, is this real?” Tsitsipas said. “This shows that with dedication and work, dreams do come true.”
Zverev, 21, was accused of poor conduct after he failed to congratulate his opponent when speaking to reporters after the match.
“I don’t think he played that well. I think the match was absolutely pathetic on all levels,” the German said.
Next up for Tsitsipas is a showdown with big-serving South African Kevin Anderson, who earlier on Friday thrashed Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 6-2, 6-2.
Fourth seed Anderson, runner-up at Wimbledon last month, was never broken and won 81 percent of his first serves.
Top seed Rafa Nadal came from behind to send hard-hitting Croatian Marin Cilic packing with a 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 win in their quarter-final match.
The world No. 1 was far from his best, but took advantage of 43 unforced errors by Cilic.
“It is a very important victory. The match became so difficult,” Nadal said. “It’s a very good victory against a big opponent. It’s confidence and another chance to play again tomorrow and that’s great news.”
Nadal will face Russian Karen Khachanov, who defeated Dutchman Robin Haase 6-3, 6-1 in a match that lasted less than an hour.
In the women’s singles in Montreal, top seed Simona Halep sent Caroline Garcia packing for the second consecutive year with a 7-5, 6-1 win to set up a semi-final showdown with Australian Ashleigh Barty.
The French Open champion showed no signs of fatigue following her marathon three-set win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova on Wednesday, running down balls to extend points and wear down the slower Garcia.
After a shaky start, Halep won three straight games to take the first set and dominated the second set behind pinpoint serving and stout defense.
Yesterday’s semi-final was to mark the first career meeting between Halep and Barty.
American Sloane Stephens faced little resistance in her 6-2, 6-2 win over Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova in a match that took a little over an hour to complete.
With the win, Stephens advances to her second consecutive Rogers Cup semi-final after falling to Caroline Wozniacki last year.
The 25-year-old US Open champion is to look to add her second hard court title of the year after she won the Miami Open in March, but to do so she will have to get past defending champion Elina Svitolina after she dispatched Elise Mertens 7-5, 6-3 on Friday.
In the doubles, Taiwan’s Latisha Chan and Ekaterina Makarova of Russia swept American Sloane Stephens and Canadian Eugenie Bouchard 6-4, 6-2.
Additional reporting by staff writer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier