Götterdämmerung at Rothenbaum: With 6: 3, 1: 6, 3: 6 the top seeded Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas (nickname “The Greek God”) fails prematurely in the round of the last eight. What a tsitsifaux pas! Opponent Filip Krajinovic beats the next crowd favorite after Philipp Kohlschreiber. The semi-finals on Saturday will be a Serbian party.
Druck is sometimes a seedy two-faced advisor. Top players like Djokovic, Nadal and Federer have always played their best tennis when they have their backs against the wall. When you stimulate and challenge them. The world number four Stefanos Tsitsipas has apparently not yet arrived in these spheres of superhero powers. With a tournament victory at Rothenbaum, he would have overtaken Rafael Nadal to third place in the world rankings. It is quite possible that this scenario put him under too much pressure instead of giving him wings. The hard crash landing on the red ash of Pöseldorf followed.
Krajinovic on Tsitsipas: “That is no behavior”
The 22-year-old looked strangely nervous throughout the game and received several warnings from referee Carlos Bernardes because of time play. It fit into the picture that his bat broke in the middle of a harmless backhand return in the first set and the astonished Tsitsipas only held the handle in his hand. From that point on, the game also tipped over in favor of the Serbs. “Stefanos was in bad shape today. After the second set he walked off the pitch for ten minutes, there was no excuse for net scooters and he called in for slamming balls. This is not behavior. I hope he’ll apologize one day, ”said Krajinovic, slightly bitter, after the MOPO match.
Two-time Rothenbaum winner Basilashvili eliminated
In the semifinals there will be a Serbian duel with Laslo Djere (ATP 57) today. He didn’t give the two-time Rothenbaum winner Nikoloz Basilashvili (Georgia) a chance at 6: 2, 6: 2. Djere obviously benefited from the lack of match practice of his opponent: After a bye and corona-positive test of the round of 16 opponent Sebastian Baez (Argentina), Basilashvili came completely under the wheels.
