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Stefanos Tsitsipas advanced to his first tour-level semi-final since winning the Los Cabos title in August with a clean performance on Friday night at the European Open in Antwerp. The top-seeded Greek beat Yannick Hanfmann 6-3, 6-3 to record back-to-back tour-level singles wins for the first time since that Los Cabos run.
The victory saw Tsitsipas through to the 47th tour-level final of his career and his fifth of the season. The result also boosts the Greek’s bid to return to the Nitto ATP Finals next month by further cementing his position in sixth place in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin. He is now 290 points ahead of Alexander Zverev in seventh and 595 points in front of Holger Rune in eighth.
Tsitsipas is also through to the Antwerp doubles semi-finals with brother Petros Tsitsipas. He is set for double duty on Saturday, when he will compete on both fronts.
“When you play on the Tour, you don’t get to do this very often,” Tsitsipas said post-match. “It has its own satisfaction, getting to do both. It’s good that I can play so good in both draws. I’m happy I’m doing it with Petros. I think we can really enjoy out there and take this opportunity to play good tennis.”
Smooth sailing for Stef ⛵️
World No.7 @steftsitsipas builds momentum 6-3, 6-3 over Hanfmann 🔜 semi-finals@EuroTennisOpen | #EuropeanOpen pic.twitter.com/lwF4pn3biF
— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 20, 2023
Against Hanfmann, Tsitsipas fought off a break point in consecutive service games midway through the second set to reach 3-3. Fuelled by those escapes, he won the final four games of the match and ultimately sealed victory on return by converting on his fourth match point.
“These moments are not easy,” Tsitsipas said of the break points he fought off. “When these moments came, I really did my best. I played very precise and stayed very calm. It was extremely important because the score could have been a little bit different if those situations went the other way.”
The Greek will next meet fourth seed Arthur Fils in the semi-finals after the Frenchman closed Friday’s play with a 6-0, 6-3 win against eighth seed Juan Pablo Varillas.
Earlier on Friday, third seed Alexander Bublik defeated Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 to advance to the semi-finals in the opposite half of the draw. He will face Maximilian Marterer, who beat Hugo Gaston 6-3, 6-2.
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