TORONTO (AP) — There appears to be a new Greek Freak.
Greek teen Stefanos Tsitsipas became the youngest player to beat four straight top-10 players in an event since the ATP World Tour was established in 1990, outlasting Kevin Anderson 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (7) on Saturday to reach the Rogers Cup final.
The 19-year-old Tsitsipas, ranked a career-high 27th and guaranteed to break into the top 20 on Monday, will face the winner of the late match between top-ranked Rafael Nadal and Karen Khachanov.
“Everything is happening so fast, I can’t keep up,” he said. “I mean it’s my birthday tomorrow”
Tsitsipas beat the fourth-seeded Anderson after topping seventh-seeded Dominic Thiem, ninth-seeded Novak Djokovic and second-seeded defending champion Alexander Zverev to reach his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 semifinal.
Fourth top 10 win this week.
One match point saved.@StefTsitsipas reaches first Masters 1000 final 6-7(4) 6-4 7-6(7) over Kevin Anderson.#RogersCup pic.twitter.com/6nup1mxTgo
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) August 11, 2018
Tsitsipas fired an ace at 7-7 before converting his third match point of the deciding tiebreaker when Anderson’s return sailed long. The South African had a match point of his own at 7-6, but Tsitsipas came through with a brilliant backhand crosscourt winner to pull even.
The 32-year-old Anderson reached the Wimbledon final last month. He also lost his only other match against Tsitsipas, falling this year on clay in Portugal.
Tsitsipas will jump from 27th to 15th when the new rankings are released Monday.
“It was a very impressive effort from him,” Anderson said. “I think he’s really proving himself. He’s taken huge strides forward this week. So definitely it will be, you know, exciting to see what he does in the future.”
Photo: Getty
Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter
