Stefanos Tsitsipas reaches 200 victories on the hard track in Shanghai. ATP Tour

Shanghai

Tsitsipas reaches 200 hard court victories in Shanghai

Medvedev made his way to the third round this Friday

October 04, 2024

Stefanos Tsitsipas successfully resolved the tough debut that awaited him this Friday at the Rolex Shanghai Masters against Kei Nishikori, but the No. 10 seed won 7-6(6), 6-4.

The Greek achieved, in addition to a ticket to the third round of the ATP Masters 1000 in Shanghai, the 200th victory of his career on hard courts, a figure that only three other players born in 1995 or later have achieved.

Most wins on hard court (players born in 1995 or later)

The No. 12 in the PIF ATP Rankings took out his thorn against the Japanese guest, who just two months ago had been his executioner in his debut at the ATP Masters 1000 in Canada. This time, on the Chinese hard court he was able to tie the Lexus ATP Head2Head at 2-2 against the former World No. 4.

Tsitsipas relied on his great performance with the serve, with which he signed 14 aces and 86% of points won with first serves, in addition to saving the three break opportunities he conceded. For their part, the rest converted a break in the second set that was enough to tip the balance on their side.

In the third round he will face the Frenchman Alexander Muller, who has just surprised Canadian No. 18 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-3, 6-2 in the second round. It will be their first face-to-face duel.

This Friday, No. 5 seed Daniil Medvedev also advanced to the third round, after making his successful debut, defeating Brazilian Thiago Seyboth Wild 7-5, 7-5 in one hour and 56 minutes.

The champion in Shanghai in 2019 was able to recover from a break down in both the first set (1-3) and the second (1-2) to stop the Brazilian who exhibited an aggressive game with 40 unforced errors compared to 23 of Medvedev according to Infosys ATP statistics.

Last year, Seyboth Wild surprised Medvedev in the first round of Roland Garros, following the same risky pattern with 69 winners and 77 unforced errors.

“I’m happy to have been there during the difficult times. He was up break in both sets. I managed to put a lot of pressure on him when we were 5-5 in both sets,” analyzed Medvedev, who is in fourth position in the PIF ATP Live Race to Turin, the next pending line to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals.

“I love Shanghai and I feel that people love me. “I enjoy it a lot, so I want to stay here as long as possible,” he added.

Did you know that…?

Stefanos Tsitsipas is two wins away from adding 100 in the ATP Masters 1000. The 26-year-old Greek has a record of 98-51 in tournaments in this category, where he has won three crowns (Monte Carlo 2021, 2022, 2024).