Greek chic: Tsitsipas stuns Djokovic in Toronto

TORONTO, Canada: Stefanos Tsitsipas defeated his second seed in as many days at the Toronto Masters on Thursday, stunning Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic 6- 3, 6-7 (5/7), 6- 3 to reach the quarter-fi nals.

The Greek teenager, who turns 20 on Sunday, followed up his defeat of seventh seed Dominic Thiem, beating four- time champion Djokovic, seeded ninth, in a fi rsttime meeting.

“This was the best match of my career,” Tsitsipas said. “I knew I was playing pretty good today.

“Losing the second set, it was tough to deal with - I had my opportunities and didn’t use them. But I remained calm, I tried few things that I didn’t try before. (The early break in the third set) was everything. It gave me the win at the end.”

Tsitsipas, ranked 27, spent just over two hours in advancing to the fi rst Masters 1000 quarter-fi nal of his career.

The 19-year-old forced the former world number one Djokovic onto the back foot in the first set but was unable to wrap up a straightsets win as the 13-time Grand Slam champion claimed the tiebreak with the Greek fi ring long having saved two set points.

In the third set, the teenager showed great composure to break for a 2- 0 lead and then saved a break point for a 3- 0 margin. He rounded off his afternoon with back- toback winners to send Djokovic, the winner of 30 Masters titles, out on a fi rst match point. — AFP