Stefanos Tsitsipas ‘glad’ to hold off Jannik Sinner fightback at Aus Open - ‘Like a mountain to climb’
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Published 22/01/2023 at 13:42 GMT
World No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas says he felt like he had “a mountain” to climb at key moments of his tense five-set win over Jannik Sinner. Tsitsipas let a two-set lead slip but dug deep in the fifth to book a place in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open for a fourth time. Stream the 2023 Australian Open live on discovery+, the Eurosport app and at eurosport.co.uk.
'It seemed like a mountain' - Barbara interview Tsitsipas post match
Stefanos Tsitsipas has admitted he felt like he had “a mountain” to climb during certain moments in his 6-4 6-4 3-6 4-6 6-3 victory over Jannik Sinner.
Tsitsipas was looking good at two sets up, but a break in the middle of the third set shifted the momentum towards Sinner.
It was the first time the Greek had dropped a set at this year’s Australian Open, but he dug deep to break in the sixth game of the final set before going on to book a place in the quarter-finals against Jiri Lehecka.
“What a great match, Jannik played incredible tennis today,” Tsitsipas told Eurosport. “He did not leave me with a lot of options and I’m so glad I overcame this obstacle because it seemed like a mountain [to climb] at some points.
“He was really ahead with the momentum, I was stuck somewhere down and very much behind. I picked it up in the fifth set, I had to hang in there, waited for that golden moment to show up.
“I had two games with love on his serve, didn’t convert the first one, he came back, and I did get the last one on the last break point that I had, so I’m just happy things went my way.”
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Henman and Wilander analyse Tsitsipas overcoming Sinner in epic match
Sinner had completed a mighty comeback in the previous round from two sets down against Marton Fucsovics.
However, he wasn’t able to do the same against Tsitsipas, who believed he began to play more freely in the final set, which got him over the line.
“Look it’s difficult, I was trying to analyse it, to try and see what was going on,” Tsitsipas said. “I was playing some big forehands, some big shots, to me it didn’t feel like I was too much defensive.
“I was hitting the ball, and he seemed to like that after a certain point. I felt he was really getting in the rhythm of the fast balls I was giving him and I was trying to change it up but it wasn’t easy.
“He wasn’t making a lot of unforced errors, he wasn’t giving much and the only option was to stay as solid as possible or to just hold my games on my serve.”
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Stream the 2023 Australian Open live on discovery+, the Eurosport app and at eurosport.co.uk.
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