Tsitsipas Sets Alcaraz Blockbuster Roland Garros QF
Stefanos Tsitsipas on Sunday set a blockbuster quarter-final showdown at Roland Garros against Carlos Alcaraz when he breezed past Austrian Sebastian Ofner.
After Alcaraz displayed imperious form earlier in the day against Lorenzo Musetti, Tsitsipas responded with a statement performance of his own, losing serve just once en route to a 7-5, 6-3, 6-0 victory.
"Today's performance was good, actually. I'm not really sure how the first game was, because I didn't feel that great coming from my end. But I picked up fast," Tsitsipas said. "I kept the focus locked in. I felt like I read his game at some point. I felt like I was getting into the match stronger and stronger. More games and more opportunities I got to kind of hit balls and stay in rallies and read rallies. I got a sense of how I can win more points against him. It helped a lot."
Ofner put up resistance early and appeared poised to push his favoured opponent to a first-set tie-break. But when the Austrian missed a forehand wide on set point, Tsitsipas seized the opportunity to surge ahead.
The Greek hit 27 winners to just 12 unforced errors in the one-hour, 48-minute clash. He has not lost a set since the first round against Jiri Vesely.
The fifth seed has reached at least the quarter-finals in three of his past four appearances at the clay-court major. The 24-year-old has played his best tennis at the majors this season, having also advanced to the final of the Australian Open.
Tsitsipas will try to overturn an 0-4 ATP Head2Head record against Alcaraz in the last eight. Just a month and a half ago, the Spaniard defeated the Greek 6-3, 6-4 in the Barcelona final.
"I need to play good tennis. Carlos is someone that keeps the intensity high at all times. He's someone that is not going to give you gaps where his attention is not there," Tsitsipas said. "He's very energetic, and you can see that on the court. He adds a lot of that into the rallies, into his rituals when he is out there playing the game."
Ofner enjoyed the best tournament of his career by reaching the fourth round at a major for the first time. The Austrian was trying to become the first qualifier to make the last eight at Roland Garros since Marcelo Filippini in 1999.
The 27-year-old is up to No. 80 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings. He will crack the world’s Top 100 for the first time the Monday after Roland Garros, when the newest edition of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings is released.