Stefanos Tsitsipas didn't continue his solid run at the 2024 Italian Open as he was shocked by Nicolas Jarry in three sets.
Tsitsipas was one of the players who could win the ATP Masters 1000 event in Rome because he played really solid tennis this week and is just really good on clay.
Another factor contributing to that was the draw, which didn't feature Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, or Jannik Sinner. In their absence, it was he and maybe Alexander Zverev who had experience with the biggest stage.
Jarry is another solid clay player who has been playing at a really high level for a while now. He certainly played this match at a decent level, but he wasn't able to find what he found the last time they played, at least not initially.
The Chilean beat Tsitsipas the last time they played, and he did it this time around as well. The Greek player had some really good chances but wasted all of them to lose the match.
The opening set started really well for Tsitsipas, who took an early break in that first set and, from there, cruised comfortably. He won the opening set 6-3 largely because he was very consistent.
He wasn't the more aggressive player and didn't attack as much as Jarry, but he managed the rallies well. Jarry didn't have a single break point in that opening set.
The second set was a bit more complicated for Tsitsipas because he really didn't use his chances when he had them. Midway through the second set, he had a 0-40 lead on his opponent's serve but failed to convert that, as well as two more break points.
As a result, he lost the second set 5-7, and his struggles continued in the third set. The final set was another hugely wasted chance by Tsitsipas who broke early for a 2-1 lead but then got broken immediately after.
Jarry kept applying pressure and ultimately won the match 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to reach the semi-finals of the 2024 Italian Open, and he was clearly very happy about it.
"Beating Stef on clay is a good achievement. Extremely happy for my fight today and how I played. How I maintained myself even down a set, down a break.. I just kept trying to find different ways to have chances on his serve."
"I knew I was playing good. I had to adjust some things on the backhand so he didn’t push me back. It was a good fight tonight. Hopefully tomorrow I can be stronger."