Arthur Fils defeats Stefanos Tsitsipas in Basel for fifth straight win over a Top 20 player

Arthur Fils first broke into the Top 20 in July, and if his recent record against top players is anything to go by, it shouldn’t be long before he cracks another ranking class.

The No. 20-ranked 20-year-old extended his winning streak against Top 20 players to five matches in a row on Friday with a 7-6 (5), 6-3 victory over No. 11-ranked Stefanos Tsitsipas in Basel.

With his triumph over the Greek in the quarterfinals of the ATP 500 event, Fils has also won eight of his last nine matches against Top 20 players, as well as nine of his last 11.

He’s now 12-12 overall against Top 20 players.

FILS CAREER RECORD VS TOP 20 PLAYERS (12-12):
l. to No. 17 Sinner in ’23 Montpellier SFs
l. to No. 7 Rune in ’23 Rome 2nd Rd
d. No. 4 Ruud in ’23 Hamburg QFs
l. to No. 19 Zverev in ’23 Hamburg SFs
l. to No. 19 Shelton in ’23 Laver Cup RR
l. to No. 12 Paul in ’23 Shanghai 3rd Rd
d. No. 7 Tsitsipas in ’23 Antwerp SFs
l. to No. 3 Medvedev in ’23 Vienna 1st Rd
l. to No. 5 Rublev in ’24 Hong Kong QFs
l. to No. 9 Ruud in ’24 Indian Wells 3rd Rd
d. No. 11 De Minaur in ’24 Barcelona 3rd Rd
l. to No. 16 Humbert in ’24 ’s-Hertogenbosch 2nd Rd
l. to No. 4 Zverev in ’24 Halle QFs
d. No. 7 Hurkacz in ’24 Wimbledon 2nd Rd
l. to No. 9 De Minaur in ’24 Wimbledon 4th Rd
d. No. 17 Rune in ’24 Hamburg QFs
d. No. 19 Baez in ’24 Hamburg SFs
d. No. 4 Zverev in ’24 Hamburg F
l. to No. 15 Humbert in ’24 Canada 1st Rd
d. No. 7 Fritz in ’24 Tokyo 1st Rd
d. No. 17 Shelton in ’24 Tokyo QFs
d. No. 14 Rune in ’24 Tokyo SFs
d. No. 19 Humbert in ’24 Tokyo F
d. No. 11 Tsitsipas in ’24 Basel QFs

After sneaking out a tight 55-minute first set in a tie-break on Friday, Fils finally got the first break of the match in the fifth game of the second set for a 3-2 lead, and then—a few holds later—he broke again to seal the victory, ripping a huge backhand winner down the line from behind the baseline to bring up match point and then hitting one last crosscourt backhand winner to end it.

They were his 25th and 26th winners of the day, and he had almost three times as many winners as unforced errors (9).

Tsitsipas didn’t even play badly—the two-time Grand Slam finalist finished with 16 winners to 9 unforced errors.

In addition to his run against Top 20 players, Fils extended his winning streak at ATP 500 events to 13 matches in a row, having gone 5-0 to win Hamburg on clay in the summer and 5-0 to win Tokyo a few weeks ago on outdoor hard courts, and he’s now 3-0 so far on the indoor hard courts of Basel this week.

He'll face Andrey Rublev or Ben Shelton next.