Stefanos Tsitsipas doubted if he’d be able to make comeback against Karen Khachanov

Greek tennis star Stefanos Tsitsipas admitted that even he doubted if he would have the ability to create a comeback towards world No. 21 Karen Khachanov in Rotterdam. Tsitsipas, seeded at No. 2, recovered from a set all the way down to beat Russian tennis star Khachanov 4-6 6-3 7-5 and attain the Rotterdam semifinal.

After dropping the opening two video games of the match, Khachanov received the next 4 video games to take a 4-2 lead earlier than serving out for the opener within the tenth sport. Tsitsipas did not serve out for the second set in his first try however managed to do in his second try within the ninth sport.

Within the third set, Tsitsipas recovered from a 3-1 deficit to finish a comeback win. “He was taking part in nice tennis and I wasn’t positive if I’d have the ability to compete,” mentioned Tsitsipas, per the ATP web site. “I had a tremendous 5-0 lead within the second set and that introduced a variety of confidence into my sport.

We had nice rallies and the standard of tennis was wonderful. You must keep as calm as attainable in three-setters. I’ve received lots prior to now and with expertise, it provides me an thought of easy methods to play in these tight moments.”

Tsitsipas performs subsequent towards Andrey Rublev

Tsitsipas has been profitable tight matches all week in Rotterdam as in his first match of the event he beat Egor Gerasimov 7-6 (4) 7-5. “I needed to play extra persistently and in addition what I elevated within the [key] moments was the pace of my ball, which felt type of floppy earlier than.

He had a strong sport, he was serving nicely at occasions. He wasn’t lacking lots, so it was troublesome,” Tsitsipas mentioned after beating Gerasimov. “I believe as soon as I put in my head that I wanted to battle and I [couldn’t] take [any] single second as a right, issues modified and I felt the boldness.” It stays to be seen if Tsitsipas can beat Rublev and attain the Rotterdam ultimate.