Tsitsipas stuns Zverev for third win over top-10 players

Greek teenager who knocked out Djokovic, Thiem reaches semis

“Jesus Christ.”

Pardon the profanity but … out of a gobsmacked teenager’s mouth and into the Rogers Cup semifinal.

How in heavens did exploding supernova Stefanos Tsitsipas do that? “You tell me.”

That was Tsitsipas in an oncourt exchange with Arash Madani from Sportsnet, who asked immediately after the match how he’d shimmied away from a looming 6-3 second-set ouster against defending champion Alexander Zverev.

“I have no idea. I just broke him and the dream remained alive.”

Gotta love this kid. As doubtless some 100,000 Greek-Canadians in the GTA have gone gaga for the guy in the past week.

The splashiest 19-year-old at Aviva Centre this week — he knocked off Novak Djokovic 24 hours earlier — Tsitsipas was swinging perilously from the hook block of a 5-2 winch Saturday and all Zverev had to do was hang on to his serve for the match. There hadn’t been a hint of impending collapse from the German, who’d cruised to 6-3 domination in the first set. Then it went pear-shaped. In what felt like the blink of an eye, the young Adonis, in his vivid pink headband and tee, crafted a breathtaking rebound, holding, breaking back in Game 9, drawing even in game 10 and sending the thriller into a second-set tiebreak that zigzagged crazily to a 13-11 denouement for Tsitsipas,

Tsitsipas attacked in the third, growing ever more assertive as the energy rushed towards him, breaking Zverev again for the 6-4 victory. Zverev doubledfaulted on match point, for goodness sake.

Zverev, who had prevailed over Tsitsipas handily a week ago in D.C. , was not so gracious in defeat either.

“I don’t think today he played that well. I think the match was absolutely pathetic on all levels ... I was up 6-3, 5-3, serving for the match.”

Zverev even professed relief at leaving Toronto without, you know, the grind of a semi and a final this weekend.

Tsitsipas, who earlier dispatched world No. 8 Dominic Thiem, became the youngest player to beat three top-10 players at one tournament since Rafael Nadal, who was also 19, did it at Monte Carlo in 2006.

“Amazing,’’ Tsitsipas marvelled. “I feel proud of myself. I feel proud of my country. And I feel proud that I’m showing my best out on the court on such big stages, and that I can make tennis in Greece the thing.”

He is the first Greek inside the top 100.

Tsitsipas will face Kevin Anderson in one semifinal. The other will feature Russia’s Karen Khachanov, a 6-3, 6-1 winner over Robin Haase and the top-seeded Nadal, who beat Marin Cilic 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Tsitsipas, who bears a striking physical resemblance to Zverev, said he’d benefitted from their encounter last week and changed things up yesterday after what he admitted was an “awful” start to the match.

“I would say I played more clever this time. I kind of fooled him when I was on the court and did some things that he didn’t expect me to do.”

Like, oh, rise from the 5-2 second-set ashes.