Tsitsipas stuns Nadal, will face Djokovic in Madrid final

Stefanos Tsitsipas has pulled off one of the biggest wins of his short but remarkable career by beating Rafael Nadal on Spanish soil to book his place in the Madrid Open final against world No.1 Novak Djokovic.

He broke Nadal six times in the epic three-setter played late into the Madrid night, lasting two hours and 34 minutes, to win 6-4 2-6 6-3.

MAGICAL.

A moment @StefTsitsipas will remember for a long, long time… pic.twitter.com/UQkh05mSOy

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) May 11, 2019

Tsitsipas, 20, had never won a set in his previous three meetings against the 11-time French Open champion Nadal, but the Greek drew first blood by saving a break point to hold in the 10th game and take the first set.

Before Nadal met Tsitsipas, he had won 26 of 27 service games in this year’s Madrid Open, and the Spaniard had breezed past the youngster in the Barcelona Open final last season and this year’s Australian Open semifinals.

He’d also dropped just three games in a dominant quarterfinal performance against Stan Wawrinka.

Nadal won the second set and looked to have the physical edge over the Greek, who has also been playing doubles in Madrid.

But Tsitsipas, the Next Gen ATP finals champion, came back stronger in the decider with impressive court coverage and broke Nadal to take a 5-2 lead although he could not immediately serve out for the match.

He earned repeated match points in the next game when Nadal was serving and after the Spaniard had dug deep to save three of them he could only find the net on the fourth.

Tsitsipas dropped his racket and put his hands to his face to savour his first victory over the titan of clay court tennis, completing a clean sweep of wins over Djokovic, Nadal and Roger Federer in less than 10 months.

2018 Toronto R16 Tsitsipas bt. Djokovic
2019 Australian Open R16 Tsitsipas bt. Federer
2019 Madrid SF Tsitsipas bt. Nadal

Big 3 Achievement: UNLOCKED ???? pic.twitter.com/qKeU1LH0o7

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) May 11, 2019

“It means the world, it’s really nice to be able to play this way, it’s an unbelievable feeling,” Tsitsipas told reporters.

Nadal, meanwhile, was left reflecting on a third straight semifinal exit on clay after losing to Fabio Fognini in the Monte Carlo Masters and Dominic Thiem in the Barcelona Open.

Djokovic reached the final after seeing off last year’s runner-up Dominic Thiem 7-6(2) 7-6(4) in a gruelling, high-quality match lasting two hours 22 minutes.

Tsitsipas beat Djokovic in the Rogers Cup in Toronto and was looking forward to another match with the Serbian.

“I’ll have to be mentally prepared for Djokovic, I’m sure he wants the title as badly as me,” he added.

Djokovic, winner in Madrid in 2011 and 2016, was fully rested after his quarterfinal opponent Marin Cilic had withdrawn because of food poisoning, while Thiem had to dig deep to beat Roger Federer in a gruelling three-setter.

Thiem, who won the Barcelona Open last month and was on an eight-match winning streak, struck an early blow by breaking Djokovic in the fourth game but the Serbian responded by winning the next three games and saved two break points in the eighth.

Djokovic had the edge in the tiebreak, earning three match points and taking the first as Thiem smashed a baseline backhand well out, booking his place in a first final since winning the Australian Open.