Fresh off an upset of Novak Djokovic, Stefanos Tsitsipas will try to keep his Toronto run going when he faces Alexander Zverev during quarterfinal action on Friday. Meanwhile, Kevin Anderson is going up against Grigor Dimitrov.
Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. (2) Alexander Zverev
Tsitsipas is storming into prominence this season and he took his meteoric rise to new heights with the biggest win of his career on Thursday at the Rogers Cup–a 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-3 upset of Novak Djokovic. The 19-year-old owns three victories over higher-ranked opponents (Djokovic is currently 10th), but beating a former world No. 1 and reigning Wimbledon champion to reach the quarterfinals of a Masters 1000 event is as good as it gets so far for Tsitsipas. He is now 28-18 for the season and 9-2 in his last 11 matches, a stretch that includes a semifinal showing in Washington, D.C. and additional wins this week over Damir Dzumhur and Dominic Thiem.
Next up for Tsitsipas on Friday is a second career contest against Zverev, who just ended the Greek’s Washington, D.C. run with a 6-2, 6-4 rout. Zverev went on to lift the trophy last week, just as he did at that same 500-point tournament in 2017. The 21-year-old German maintained momentum from last summer’s triumph in D.C. by winning the Rogers Cup, so there is no reason to think that fatigue will suddenly set in this time around. After all, Zverev has dropped only one set during his current seven-match winning streak and he has surrendered just 13 total games through two rounds in Toronto. This should be more competitive than last Saturday’s battle, but Zverev simply looks too good right now and Tsitsipas has to make a quick turnaround following his huge result against Djokovic.
Pick: Zverev in 3
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(5) Grigor Dimitrov vs. (4) Kevin Anderson
Anderson and Dimitrov will be squaring off for the eighth time in their careers on Friday. Dimitrov is dominating the head-to-head series 6-1 at the ATP level, including 3-1 on hard courts (2-0 outdoors) and 1-0 at the Rogers Cup. Their 2014 quarterfinal clash in Toronto was nothing short of infamous, as both players took turns enduring incredible chokes and Anderson double-faulted seven times–including on match point–en route to a 7-6(1), 3-6, 7-6(5) loss.
This one should produce higher quality, mainly because Anderson is displaying the best form of his career. The sixth-ranked South African is coming off a runner-up performance at Wimbledon and he has improved to 31-11 for the year with Toronto victories over Evgeny Donskoy (in a third-set tiebreaker) and Ilya Ivashka. Dimitrov’s season has been a struggle on the heels of a 2017 triumph at the Nitto ATP Finals, but he has done extremely well this week to scrape past Fernando Verdasco and Frances Tiafoe in final-set tiebreakers. Although fifth-ranked Bulgarian got away with some lapses on serve against his first two opponents, a red-hot Anderson will not be as generous and should be able to capitalize on Dimitrov’s depleted gas tank.
Pick: Anderson in 2
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Wow! Tsitsipas wins again! This kid is a real deal! Good job! Zverev OTOH was inconsistent and made way too many UEs. He seems to be in real trouble ahead of USO!
Wow, Tsitsipas snatches victory from the jaw of defeat! Sasha was the better player but Tsitsipas just hung in there and found a way to win. Love the guy, he never gave up, very much like Rafa.
He’ll be in the top 20 come Monday and after just turning 20 year old this Sunday. As for Sasha, he’ll have to give up the no.3 ranking to Delpo on Monday. It’s never easy defending a Masters title.
I thought Sasha played well this HC season, and really thought that he would at least reach the final here. Maybe Tsitsipas just was able to force him to go for more thus making all the errors.
Tsitsipas’ serve is truly a weapon, bailing him out of troubles so often that I feel may be why he could stay so calm and cool knowing he can rely on his serve. He’s also showing the varieties he has and what he’s capable of doing on the court. I think he’s the complete package and will go far in his tennis career if he stays motivated and focused.
Didn’t realize Nole is still in Montreal playing doubles with Anderson!
He should be in Cincy practicing for Cincy! Dang it.
Good for Nole for hanging in for the doubles. Hate to see singles players pull out of the doubles if they lose in singles. Besides, doubles is good practice.
I’m watching the doubles. I can see it’s good practice!
Anderson and Djoko look awkward compared to Mektic and Peya. But with Anderson serving… they are not a bad team 😀
What I don’t like to see is Nole diving and rolling on the ground. Gosh that looked bad on his hip.
Tsitsipas converted all four BPs that he had, ie 4/4, whilst Sasha had 14 BPs if I’m not wrong and converted only 5. Tsitsipas seems able to turn it up and seizes the opportunities when they arise, like a big match player despite his inexperience. Well done!
Just realized Tsitsipas knocking out Zverev means Del Potro rises to a career high number 3 in the world.