Day 9 of Australian Open 2019, and the first quarter finals. Opening match on Rod Laver Arena was:
Roberto Bautista Agut (22) (ESP) v Stefanos Tsitsipas (14) (GRE)
Tsitsipas should not have been installed as favourite for the match.
Based on the players beaten by the two:
Roberto had knocked over Karen Khachanov, Paris Masters winner over Djokovic, in straight sets in the third round, then last years AO finalist, Marin Cilic, in the round of sixteen.
Stefanos had a great win over Roger Federer, but wasn’t overly dominant in defeating his other opponents, Nikoloz Basilashvili the highest ranked at 19.
Tsitsipas served first and dropped it after leading 40-15. Bautista Agut then served a love game to consolidate and lead 2-0.
Tsitsipas held serve, cutting down his unforced errors, and trailed 1-2.
Aggression shown by Tsitsipas on the second serve of Bautista Agut paid dividends and won him a break point, but he went to that well once too often and the Spaniard held serve for 3-1.
A pair of aces out of the Greek arsenal was followed by a third, and the game was done in the flick of an eye. 2-3.
A devastating backhand from Roberto was too good for Stefanos who made a complete mess of it at the net, and a couple of winners were distributed for good measure. 4-2.
Roberto fell into the unforced error trap and it was his undoing in game eight, generously allowing Stefanos to steal the break back from the Spanish clutches. 4-4.
At 4-5, Roberto asked for some assistance from his serve to re-enter the contest which for some reason he had left for a brief interlude and let Stefanos run solo.
The serve remained belligerent and answered with a double fault. That displeased Roberto who resorted to his more reliable ally, the forehand, which came to the party with a timely winner. 30-30.
Another winner from the forehand and Roberto regained confidence, the score 5-5.
Roberto could only stare in wonder as the Greek serve produced quality, including aces, and no break chances were offered.
Then the once useful Spanish forehand went rogue, costing Roberto his whole game plan. Stefanos hit enough good shots to take the set 7-5 on the second break point, a forced backhand error the final horror for Roberto.
Set two and Roberto had reshuffled his tennis bag of tricks in an effort to surprise Stefanos with some improved output. And it worked as he broke the Greek serve in game three, the backhand finishing the job.
Tsitsipas contributed a bundle of errors to the Spanish charity, unsure of whether he could claim that on his tax or not. 3-1 as the break consolidation was completed.
4-2 as the battle of serve and forehand between Spain and Greece increased in standard.
A love game at 3-4 was welcomed by the Spanish camp and Roberto led 5-3
Stefanos took his time to win a fourth game, taking three trips to that useless place called deuce, and hitting a winning forehand three times before he finally found one that actually converted a game point. 4-5.
Roberto forced Stefanos to commit some serious errors about which the Greek community were unhappy, but these did assist the taking of set two by Spain 6-4.
Set three and as in set one, Roberto set the pace, breaking Greek hearts and the Stefanos serve to lead 3-2. The damage was not as mortal as first thought and the downtrodden man untrod himself to then inflict significant harm upon his Spanish foe, breaking back in game eight on the third of three chances kindly offered by a Bautista Agut backhand which clearly could be bought.
Another wound, more damaging, came in game ten, when Stefanos tortured Roberto by allowing two break opportunities pass by before stabbing him in the heart with a backhand winner on the third set point.
Stefanos had a 7-5 4-6 6-4 advantage in this blood thirsty fight.
‘Thou shall yield’, spattered Stefanos, through a mouth full of spit, and sweat which had rolled down from above his upper lip. He had just sped through the opening game of the fourth set, one which he deemed to be the last in this conquest.
Back and forth the two mighty warriors hit each other with increasingly decreasing levels of ammunition, and equally dropping energy reserves.
Eleven games passed, and merely one break point rose its head on the battlefield through a nasty double fault. Roberto needed to fight it off, and his weakened body shot it down with a fading but loyal forehand.
The pair agreed in the end that a tie break should end this stanza of the war.
Stefanos fired off two shots from either wing in anticipation of Roberto’s serve and he was accurate both times 3-0.
Two misfires from his own army and Stefanos found himself at 3-2.
Sustained Greek bombing, including positive strikes from both the left and right, and Stefanos had 6-2 and four match points.
A forced Bautista Agut forehand error and the war was over.
Stefanos Tsitsipas defeated Roberto Bautista Agut 7-5 4-6 6-4 7-6(2) to advance into a Grand Slam semi final.
This was the most significant moment in the young player’s career to this point - better than defeating Federer because the expectation was much greater and the stage of the tournament more important.
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