Stefanos Tsitsipas produced yet another strong performance at the 2024 Monte-Carlo Masters to secure the semi-final with a win against Karen Khachanov.
The Greek player hasn't played that well this year, but he found something this week in Monaco. It might just be as simple as lying in his own bed after a long time, but he has been looking better than he's looked in months this week.
The result of that effort is a semi-final at the ATP Masters 1000 event where he already won two trophies in the past. There is just something great about Monaco that makes him play wonderful tennis, and it's good to see.
He promised a return to the Top 10 a few weeks ago, and this run could certainly see him return there, but he'll need a bit more than just a semi-final.
The matchup against Khachanov heavily favoured him because, traditionally he's just played better than the Russian when they faced each other. He confirmed it in this match by easily outplaying him again to secure the semi-final.
The opening set started oddly, as both lost their serve early, making the score 1-1 in both games and breaks. Tsitsipas would then break once more for the 2-1 lead and focus on keeping his serve, which worked out for him.
He won the opening set 6-4, which was hugely important as Khachanov is a very streaky player. He'll likely play well if he starts well, but if things don't go well, he can struggle.
That happened once more as Tsitsipas managed to break him twice in the second set to finish the match 6-4, 6-2. He just played far better than Khachanov; he served better, which was a huge part of why he won, but he also was more aggressive and didn't make too many mistakes.
Tsitsipas finished with seven aces, 20 winners, and only eight unforced errors. In the semi-final, he will await the winner of the match between Jannik Sinner and Holger Rune.
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