Although fatigue has to be setting in for Stefanos Tsitsipas, no one other than Rafael Nadal and David Goffin has been able to stop him during this clay-court swing.
Coming off a runner-up performance in Barcelona, where he fell to the world No. 1 and 11-time Barcelona champion, Tsitsipas survived a second straight three-setter at the Estoril Open on Friday afternoon. The 19-year-old erased a set deficit, came back from a break down in the third, and trailed 3-0 in final-set tiebreaker before outlasting Roberto Carballes Baena 6-7(2), 6-2, 7-6(3) in two hours and 37 minutes.
Tsitsipas, who qualified in Monte-Carlo and beat Denis Shapovalov before succumbing to Goffin 7-6(4), 7-5, is 11-2 in 13 clay-court matches this spring–including especially impressive dirt wins over Dominic Thiem, Pablo Carreno Busta, Diego Schwartzman, Albert Ramos-Vinolas, and Estoril top seed Kevin Anderson.
After scraping past Anderson 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-3 in more than two hours on Thursday, it looked like Tsitsipas would finally run out of steam against Carballes Baena. But this play at 3-3 in the the final-set ‘breaker helped the Greek successfully cross the finish line.
at 3-3 in a final-set tiebreaker? about as clutch as it gets by @StefTsitsipas. pic.twitter.com/mKZqsv8BA8
— Ricky Dimon (@Dimonator) May 4, 2018
TSITSIPAS pic.twitter.com/UmkPkA9lrQ
— Ricky Dimon (@Dimonator) May 4, 2018
Next up for Tsitsipas is either Kyle Edmund or Joao Sousa. If Tsitsipas wins the Estoril title, he is projected to reach No. 33 in the world–and with Roger Federer out, that would put him in position for the No. 32 seed at the French Open.
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