Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas performed his first match in nearly 4 months as he beat Japan’s Shintaro Mochizuki. Photograph: AFP
NEW YORK:
Former top-five participant Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, who has struggled in recent times, upset 18th-seeded Jiri Lehecka Friday to achieve the US Open fourth spherical for the primary time.
Tsitsipas fired 4 instances as many aces as his Czech opponent, closing the match with a service winner to defeat the Czech 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7/3), 6-1.
Tsitsipas saluted the gang, saying “you carried me by this match” after an on-court interviewer referenced vocal help from New York’s sizeable Greek-American inhabitants.
The win follows Tsitsipas’ first-round upset of rising star Arthur Fils and locations the Greek within the spherical of 16, his furthest look in a Grand Slam in additional than two years.
After the 2 males break up the primary two units, the third-set tiebreaker proved decisive, with Tsitsipas serving two aces in a row, whereas Lehecka, a quarterfinalist in New York final 12 months, double faulted and misfired floor strokes.
Tsitsipas had 34 winners in all to Lehecka’s 22, whereas committing 30 unforced errors in contrast with 41 for the Czech participant, a quarterfinalist in New York final 12 months.
Tsitsipas stated he was pain-free after again issues derailed his 2025 marketing campaign.
“This season won’t have been one of the best that I’ve had, however not less than I get up each single day, I am pleased that I haven’t got any ache, and I do know I can go apply with none uncertainty of how my physique goes to reply,” he stated.
A former two-time Grand Slam finalist, Tsitsipas, 28, was a mainstay of the highest 10 within the first a part of the 2020s after bursting on the scene as an inheritor obvious to tennis greats Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
However he has been among the many gamers eclipsed by the rise of Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz and Italy’s Jannik Sinner. Moreover accidents, Tsitsipas has additionally grappled with an advanced relationship together with his father, Apostolos Tsitsipas, who has additionally labored as his coach.
In June, Tsitsipas parted methods with Apostolos as coach, describing the transfer as everlasting. He’s now working with Thomas Perrin and Patrick Mouratoglou.
“I do not know whether it is on the proper time, however it’s occurring,” Tsitsipas stated. “In Greece, now we have a saying, ‘It is higher late than by no means,’ so I’m going by that.”