Tsitsipas Sinks Shapovalov In Barcelona

A two-time finalist at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, Stefanos Tsitsipas moved a step closer to capturing his first title at the ATP 500 event on Thursday when he overcame 14th-seeded Canadian Denis Shapovalov 6-3, 6-2.

In a heavy-hitting clash, the Greek demonstrated great footwork to dictate on his forehand. The second seed saved both break points he faced and hit his groundstrokes with weight on the Barcelona clay, successfully targeting Shapovalov’s backhand to improve to 2-3 in their ATP Head2Head series and reach the quarter-finals.

“I tried to stay as aggressive as I could from the baseline,” Tsitsipas said. “Against Denis you have to keep up with the pace and be ready to attack when you can. It wasn’t easy out here but I did a very good job. I was responsible with my decision making. It was a good day.”

Tsitsipas is making his fifth appearance in Barcelona, with his best result runs to the final in 2018 and 2021. Chasing his first title of the season, he will next meet Alex de Minaur after the Australian received a walkover from Grigor Dimitrov.

With his 77-minute win, the World No. 5 moves to 18-5 on the season, highlighted by his run to the Australian Open final. Shapovalov started his clay-court season with a victory against Slovakian qualifier Jozef Kovalik on Wednesday. The Canadian was aiming to reach his second quarter-final of the year, after advancing to the last eight in Adelaide in January.

Earlier, Jannik Sinner survived a second-set dip to move past Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 and reach his seventh quarter-final of the season.

After Sinner raced to a one-set lead, Nishioka’s variety started to cause problems for the Italian, who was pulled from corner to corner at times at the clay-court event. The fourth seed found a way, though, breaking Nishioka’s serve three consecutive times in the third set to triumph after two hours and eight minutes.

Sinner advanced to the semi-finals on debut in Barcelona in 2021 and will aim to match that feat when he faces seventh seed Cameron Norrie or ninth seed Lorenzo Musetti in the quarter-finals.

The Italian is 26-6 on the season and arrives in Barcelona off the back of a run to his third ATP Masters 1000 semi-final of the year in Monte-Carlo. He is currently third in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin as he aims to qualify for the prestigious year-end event on home soil.