Stat of the Day: 13 sets in a row for Tsitsipas

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World No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas defeated Alex de Minaur on Thursday, 7-5, 6-3, to not only move into the quarterfinals of the ATP 500 event in Barcelona, but to improve to 7-0 on clay this year.

Even more impressive, he’s now 13-0 in sets on clay this year—he hasn’t even faced a set point.

“I was playing close to the lines, so that was definitely difficult,” said Tsitsipas, who hit 19 winners to 14 unforced errors in his win over De Minaur. “He’s a good competitor. Running and getting an extra ball back is actually his biggest strength, so that’s what makes him very difficult to play against.”

Tsitsipas didn’t lose a set en route to his first Masters 1000 title in Monte Carlo last week, the closest set being a 7-5 first set against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the quarterfinals—after dropping that 60-minute set, the Spaniard would end up retiring from the match because of a left leg injury.

The Greek beat another Spaniard, Jaume Munar, by a 6-0, 6-2 scoreline in his opener in Barcelona.

He’ll face No. 20-ranked Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime in the quarterfinals on Friday.