Stefanos Tsitsipas appears to be on his way back to form. If we put aside his title in Los Cabos in August, the Greek’s season was nothing exceptional, his well-documented affair with Paula Badosa being more talked about than his results.
With a place in the last four in Antwerp and Vienna, Tsitsipas arrived in Paris with confidence. After Félix Auger-Aliassime (also regaining form) and Alexander Zverev (fighting to qualify for the Masters), it was Karen Khachanov who suffered the wrath of the Greek on Friday.
While he only had his power to offer, Tsitsipas displayed a very good range of blows. The choice of angles was good, the movement was excellent and the shots were spot on. The win of the first set couldn’t have been more logical.
In the semi-finals for a second year in a row
Tsitsipas’ variation of play continued to annoy Khachanov at the start of the second set. But, once the break was in his pocket, he relaxed a little. Khachanov took the opportunity to make a perfect game in return to return to 3-3. But he was only postponing the inevitable. Tsitsipas resumed the match in the right direction and got back in front (5-4). He was then serving for the match and was not going to shake. If Khachanov saved a first match point with a powerful forehand, he saw the same shot go out into the lane on the second.
Semi-finalist in 2022, Tsitsipas is once again in the final four of the Rolex Paris Masters where he will meet another man in form of the moment, the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov. The one-handed backhand duel looks splendid.
