Feeling "in the zone", Tsitsipas takes down Novak Djokovic in Shanghai

On Thursday, Stefanos Tsitsipas survived in a decisive tiebreaker to squeak past Hubert Hurkacz. Twenty-four hours later, the 21-year-old enjoyed a day to remember at the Shanghai Rolex Masters.

Prior to taking the court for his quarterfinal with Novak Djokovic Friday, Tsitsipas locked up his first berth to the Nitto ATP Finals when Daniil Medvedev advanced past Fabio Fognini. Down a set, the No. 6 seed began matching Djokovic in their baseline exchanges and was sharp at the net to surge past the four-time champion, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, for his first win over a world No. 1.

AP Images

"I played really well. I kind of felt in the zone in the second and third sets, in the rallies that we were playing. That gave me a lot of confidence going in, knowing that I could face him from the baseline," Tsitsipas said in a post-match interview.

"As more of the match progressed, I felt better and better. My serve going pretty well today and wasn’t struggling with it too much. That was an extra boost for me out there. I’m really happy that I pulled out a great victory like this."

On hearing about his qualification to the season finale in London, Tsitsipas was in disbelief. "No way! Really? I didn't know that."

Djokovic broke in his opening return game to set the tone early and until reaching 5-6 in the second set, had faced little resistance on his serve. A Djokovic double fault gave the Greek his third break point of the game—and his first set pointone that would not be wasted. Tsitsipas hit 15 winners to 10 unforced errors to end the Serbian’s 15-set unbeaten streak and carried his newfound confidence into the decider. He broke for 3-1 in the third when Djokovic yanked a cross-court forehand wide and would not look back, serving out the phenomenal win in two hours and three minutes.

Tsitsipas avenged his Madrid final defeat to Djokovic and improved to 2-1 in the pair’s head-to-head series, having won their first meeting last year in Toronto. The world No. 7 is bidding to lift his first Masters 1000 trophy and third title this season, following triumphs in Marseille and Estoril. He also severely damaged Djokovic’s quest to further close the gap on Rafael Nadal’s lead in the race for year-end No. 1. Nadal can guarantee a finish atop the rankings if he wins the Masters 1000 crown in Paris-Bercy.

With his win over Djokovic, Tsitsipas has defeated each member of the Big 3 in 2019: he upstaged Roger Federer in the Australian Open fourth round and Nadal in the Madrid semifinals. But if he wants to move into Saturday’s final, he will need to overturn a 0-4 record against Medvedev.

AP Images

In Friday’s first match, Medvedev improved to 12-0 in quarterfinals this season with a 6-3, 7-6 (4) victory over Fognini. A day earlier, Medvedev had to save five set points in the opener of his meeting with Vasek Pospisil, but the US Open finalist came out reinvigorated on serve, dropping just four points to open a one-set lead. Fognini had double faulted from 0-40 down to fall behind 4-2 and soon incurred physical struggles early in the second set.

The Italian called for the trainer at the first changeover, after feeling discomfort in his left groin. He had a physio tape the area when leading 3-2 but immediately removed the bandage due to its tightness. Fognini battled to wipe away three break points throughout the set, forcing Medvedev to play out a tiebreaker. The No. 3 seed motored ahead with his first serve, finishing with 12 aces to eventually cross the finish line at the 86-minute mark.

Medvedev increased his remarkable 2019 record to 40-1 on hard courts after winning the first set, with his lone loss coming in the Rotterdam semifinals to Gael Monfils. The 23-year-old owns a tour-leading 57 wins and is aiming to reach his sixth consecutive final.