Stefanos Tsitsipas into Astana semi-final after ‘very emotional’ breaker battle
Stefanos Tsitsipas is into the last four at the ATP 500 Astana Open after a tough tussle with world number 10 Hubert Hurkacz.
The Greek star downed Hurkacz 7-6 (10-8), 6-3 for a seventh win over the Pole in their first meeting for a year and a half. The opening set was especially challenging for Tsitsipas as he passed up eight break points ahead of the tiebreak.
When asked if the contest was more mental than physical, the world number six responded: “Absolutely you could call it this way. In most of those situations I was not the fortunate one, [I was not] serving. I was still able to break through and get back fighting.
“It was very emotional to get that first tiebreaker after having thrown my body on the court and being in such a big fighting spirit. It was a very good moment to finish it off and get that first tiebreaker.”
Hurkacz will rue his own missed chances from the match, including five set points in the first set tiebreak. One that will surely haunt him most was a missed overhead up 6-5 on his own serve.
Come the second set, Tsitsipas finally broke through on the Hurkacz serve at the ninth time of asking before racing to victory.
“I got that break that I was looking for in one of the very last moments of the match, which gave me such relief after trying to break him for so long,” Tsitsipas continued.
The 24-year-old faces Andrey Rublev next for a place in the final after the Russian despatched Adrian Mannarino 6-1, 6-2 in his quarter-final. It will be a 10th meeting between the pair in a head-to-head that Tsitsipas leads 5-4.
“He strikes the ball very hard,” the Greek said of Rublev. “But I’m going to concentrate on my game. I’ve got a good opponent tomorrow, got to be well prepared and visualise it before.”
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