Stefanos Tsitsipas bested Alexander Zverev in the third round of the 2024 Monte-Carlo Masters to reach the quarter-finals.
The Greek player has struggled a lot in 2024, so much that he even dropped out of the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings. However, the courts in Monaco are ones that brought him the most success in his tennis career.
Tsitsipas won the clay-court ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Monte Carlo two times, and he's showing why the courts suit him so much again this year, with three commanding wins.
It started against Laslo Djere, before he also outplayed Tomas Martin Etcheverry, losing only one game in that match. He similarly dominated also against Zverev, which was surprising to a degree.
Of course, there was not favourite in this match, as it was 15th meeting between the two, with the H2H only slightly tilted to the Greek's side, and with the German having better form in 2024, it looked like a balanced matchup on the paper.
However, Tsitsipas was able to follow up on those dominant two wins, as he completely outplayed his opponent early in this match. It took a while, as they both held their serves early on, and Zverev was even the first player to have break points, a total of four of them.
But he didn't use any of the chances, and since the scoreboard showed 5-5 in the first set, he didn't get any chances in general, as his opponent was just the much better player on the court.
Tsitsipas broke in the 12th game of the first set to win it 7-5, and he absolutely dominated in the first five games of the second set to lead 5-0 only after a few minutes.
In the sixth game, the Greek player even had two match points, but the fifth seed was able to save both to keep himself in the match for a little longer.
He broke once more then, and ultimately, the former world no. 2 managed to take the match into the second-set tie-break, but despite losing a massive 5-0 lead, the Greek player was able to get the win.
Tsitsipas won the match 7-5, 7-6(3) to reach the quarter-finals of the 2024 Monte-Carlo Masters, taking on Karen Khachanov, who outplayed good friend Daniil Medvedev in his third-round match.