Stefanos Tsitsipas knocks Rafael Nadal to reach Madrid final | ATP Tour

Stefanos Tsitsipas, champion of the next generation ATP Finals, won one of the biggest victories of his career on Saturday, beating five-time champion Rafael Nadal 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 to reach the final Mutua Madrid Open.

"It's the whole world, I'm really happy to have proven myself today, I've played one of my best games this year," said Tsitsipas. . "I'm really happy to fight, I'm in the zone, I enjoy tennis to its full potential, it's really nice to be able to play that way." hey is an incredible feeling. "

This is the second final of the ATP Masters 1000, tripled three times, after also winning the Rogers Cup championship game last year, losing to Nadal. With his victory, the 20 – year – old athlete is expected to top the ATP rankings, at the highest career, of at least seventh place Monday pending his result against the first at world, Novak Djokovic, in the final.

By entering the match, Nadal had won all three FedEx ATP Head2Head games against Tsitsipas, claiming that his seven sets had been played, with only two of those 6-2 sets. But Tsitsipas showed no fear of his opponent or the present moment at the Caja Magica, playing aggressively throughout his victory over his fourth match point after two hours and 34 minutes. He has now won eight consecutive games.

Nadal played 26 of his 27 service matches in Madrid to qualify for the last four. But Tsitsipas set the tone with an immediate service break and he broke the Spaniard 's serve three times in the opening match to show the second seed and the crowd that he was in the game. he was ready to face the fivefold champion. Overall, the 20-year-old broke his serve six times while saving 11 of the 16 break points he faced.

"Mental discipline, rigor and decision in all these crucial moments have been key," Tsitsipas said. "I had to take all these opportunities, Rafa is a fighter, he does not give you free points, you have to fight and do your best on every point."

Nadal plunged into Spanish clay after losing the first set, winning his first two service matches of the second set, loving to change gears, constantly moving his feet to put himself in a position to beat his opponent and to get the ball rolling. prevent Tsitsipas from playing aggressively. The Spaniard broke twice and held his four games of service to force a decision maker.

While many players had lost their fight against Nadal's physical play or against the pressure of the stage, Tsitsipas continued to enter the field, approaching as quickly as possible the ground-breaking of the Spanish and risking the accumulation of nets. Although Tsitsipas could not serve the match at 5-2, he broke for the third time in the set to finish the match, dropping his racket on the field after Nadal missed a setback in the game. .

Tsitsipas leads the ATP with 27 wins (27-9) this season. After his wins in Marseille and Estoril, the 20-year-old is one of four players to have won several trophies in 2019. Last year, Tsitsipas lost in the first round of the main draw in Madrid as than 40th player in the ATP ranking. On Sunday, he will look to extend his lead to Djokovic 2-0 in the FedEx ATP Head2Head series, after defeating the Serb in Toronto.

"I have to play the same way, I have to be mentally ready for a tough game, he's in a pretty good state of tennis, so it will not be easy, he has had some good matches for the final so I'm going have to be ready for this match, "said Tsitsipas. "I'm sure he wants the title as bad as me."

Nadal was trying to reach his 50th final of the ATP Masters 1000 and his 10th final in Madrid. The second seed continues its first trophy in 2019.

"I did not feel today doing the things I wanted to do and that's all," said Nadal. "I was clear on what I had to do today, but tonight I was not able to do it."

Did you know?
Tsitsipas won the match, but Nadal won six more points than the Greek #NextGenATP.