Stefanos Tsitsipas climbs Barcelona "mountain" after saving match points to edge Diaz Acosta
The Greek notched a ninth consecutive win in a quarterfinal clash that nearly slipped away Friday.
Stefanos Tsitsipas fell to the ground Friday at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell as if he were celebrating another title.
That wasn’t the scene, but the No. 5 seed couldn’t contain his relief after surviving a pair of match points in a quarterfinal encounter that nearly slipped through his fingertips. Tsitsipas fought off Facundo Diaz Acosta, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (8), to secure a ninth consecutive win on the back of his third Monte Carlo triumph.
“It seemed like a mountain. I reminded myself that I have a headband that I wear here that has a mountain and I need to climb it, so it kept me going,” Tsitsipas told ATP Media afterwards. “It was extremely difficult to sustain the same level throughout the entire match. I think he played incredible, left everything out there.”
Having leveled the contest, Tsitsipas later broke to put the clash on his racquet at 5-4. But a fifth double fault to open the next game was a sneak peek of the drama to come, as Tsitsipas shanked a forehand and struck another double fault en route to dropping serve.
At 5-6, another framed forehand and long double fault off the Greek’s racquet brought up match point for Diaz Acosta. This year's Buenos Aires title holder targeted an open space up the line, but was late with his timing to push the match-ending strike wide.
After surviving to reach the tie-break, Tsitsipas fell behind 5-2 when he errantly misdirected a backhand volley at the top of the net. The world No. 8 regrouped in taking the next four points to reach his first match point—one he would miss converting by the narrowest of margins on an attempted crosscourt backhand winner.
Two points later, Diaz Acosta’s second chance to pull off the upset was negated by a jammed backhand return. While the Argentine also fought off a second match point at 7-8 with a gutsy inside-out forehand winner, his final backhand fell wide.
“Clay does not give you anything for free. You have to really work for every single moment. Part of the match, he was returning excellently,” said Tsitsipas. “I got a little tense on my serve, I wanna lie. I started decelerating a lot. Once I was conscious of that, it went back to where it belonged. It helped me a lot on the tiebreaker.
“It was very mental in general.”
Tsitsipas and third seed Casper Ruud are now each a win away from repeating last Sunday’s Monte Carlo final duel. Arthur Fils and Dusan Lajovic play for the right to meet Tsitsipas.
Ruud defeated Matteo Arnaldi, 6-4, 6-3, for his tour-leading 27th win of the season.
“It was a difficult match. It was back and forth in the beginning,” assessed Ruud. “Long games and close games and lucky in the end I can stand here as the winner.”
For a place in the final, the Norwegian gets 13th seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry, a 7-6 (4), 7-6 (1) winner over 12th seed Cameron Norrie.