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Melbourne (AFP)
Stefanos Tsitsipas put friendship apart to crush Mikael Ymer and race into the Australian Open fourth spherical Saturday, dismantling his someday hitting associate in straight units.
The pair had been born inside weeks of one another and infrequently pitted collectively as juniors, however Greek fifth seed Tsitsipas swatted the Swede 6-4, 6-1, 6-1 on John Cain Enviornment.
He’ll now play both big-hitting ninth seed Matteo Berrettini or Nineteenth-seeded Russian Karen Khachanov for a spot within the final eight as he targets a maiden Grand Slam title.
“It took a while to get used to circumstances on John Cain. However I am very pleased with my sport. I confirmed good high quality of tennis right this moment,” mentioned Tsitsipas.
“Mikael is somebody I’ve identified for a very long time and it is fairly vital for me to have battles like this in opposition to him, and for the subsequent era of tennis as effectively,” he added.
“All of have been working very exhausting to get the place we’re right this moment.”
Tsitsipas mentioned earlier than the match that he had identified Ymer “like, since a child” and the 22-year-olds had been quarantine coaching companions after they arrived in Australia for the opening Grand Slam of the 12 months.
Regardless of their affinity, they’d solely performed one another as soon as earlier than at Tour stage, with Tsitsipas claiming a 6-1, 6-3 victory final 12 months in Marseille.
Ymer, ranked 95, shocked final month’s Delray Seaside titlist Hubert Hurkacz within the opening spherical then overcame 17-year-old Spanish wunderkind Carlos Alcaraz, however he was no match for the Greek.
Tsitsipas, a semi-finalist at Melbourne Park in 2019, was coming off a gruelling five-set win over Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis, however confirmed few indicators of tiredness.
He took his possibilities when offered within the opening set then romped by means of the second, powering down huge serves and hitting 10 winners.
The third set adopted an analogous sample with Ymer unable to take care of the Greek star’s unrelenting accuracy on service return, hitting too many unforced errors and unable to get into the rallies.
© 2021 AFP
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