Stefanos into Shanghai quarters
World number seven Stefanos Tsitsipas edged Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz in three sets to advance to the quarterfinals of the Shanghai Rolex Masters, where he will now face world number one Novak Djokovic of Serbia.
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Tsitsipas, seeded sixth in the event, received a bye in the opening round. In the second round, he defeated Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime (world number 19) 7-6(3) 7-6(3). This marked his first win in three attempts over the Canadian, or in six if you include junior matches.
In the third round, the Greek faced Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz (world number 34). Going into the match, Tsitsipas led the official head-to-head 2-1, but also won two other matches against the Pole (2018 Next Gen ATP Finals and 2019 Davis Cup) that are not included in this statistic. Tsitsipas saved two set points in the first set to come from behind and win it 7-5. However, Hurkacz then won the second set 6-3 to force a third set. Neither player was able to break serve in the third set, which went to a tiebreaker in which Tsitsipas prevailed 7-5 to book his place in the quarterfinals.
Tsitsipas will now face world number one Novak Djokovic of Serbia. Their head-to-head record is 1-1, though the Greek won their only previous meeting on hardcourts. It must be noted that Djokovic is the defending champion in Shanghai.
The 21-year-old from Athens also played doubles in Shanghai, teaming up with Wesley Koolhof of the Netherlands. Unfortunately, the Greek-Dutch duo lost in the first round to fourth-seeded Raven Klaasen of South Africa and Michael Venus of New Zealand, 6-4 7-6(8).
