Tsitsipas Powers Past de Minaur to Reach Rotterdam SFs
Stefanos Tsitsipas doesn’t yet have an ATP 500 title in his trophy cabinet, but the World No. 4 looks to be firing up nicely to address that anomaly in Rotterdam this week.
The 2021 Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters champion produced another destructive performance on Friday to ease past Alex de Minaur 6-4, 6-4 in one hour, 31 minutes in the semi-finals of the ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam.
[FOLLOW ACTION]Tsitsipas had produced some fine ball-striking to see off Ilya Ivashka in the second-round, and he picked up where he left off against de Minaur. His strong start brought him early rewards as he overcame stubborn resistance from the Australian to break with his sixth break point of the fifth game.
The top seed went on to see out the first set comfortably and looked to be running away with the second as he surged to a double-break lead, before World No. 34 de Minaur slowed his march to victory with some trademark grit to reclaim one break.
Tsitsipas’ powerful game was nonetheless too much even for one of the best movers on the ATP Tour, the Greek striking 19 winners and winning 82 per cent (27/33) of points behind his first serve.
Standing in the way of the Greek in the semi-finals will be Czech qualifier Jiri Lehecka, after the World No. 137 continued his dream run in Rotterdam with a three-set win over Lorenzo Musetti earlier on Friday.