Tennis • Tsitsipas Stuns Djokovic, Zverev Takes Down Federer On Surprising Day In Shanghai

By Ricky Dimon

It’s a surprising semifinal lineup at the Rolex Shanghai Masters after Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer lost on Friday. Djokovic went down to Stefanos Tsitsipas 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 before Federer fell 6-3, 6-7(7), 6-3 to Alexander Zverev.

Tsitsipas struck 11 aces, won 83 percent of his first-serve points against the best returner in the world, and was broken only once.

“It’s the best comeback that I have ever had, probably,” said the seventh-ranked Greek. “It was a very difficult victory mentally, too. I wasn’t really thinking that long term that I have to win two sets. It just went step by step. It happened. I broke him, I won the set, I stayed there, broke him again, eventually I got the win at the end. I wasn’t really thinking too much in the future, and I think that helped a lot.”

“He had the high-quality tennis and he played very well after his serve,” Djokovic said of Tsitsipas. “He was backing up his serve with really good and aggressive first shots in the rally. I didn’t make him defend enough. I just gave him enough time to really dictate the play from back of the court and he deserved to win.”

Next up for the 21-year-old is familiar foe Daniil Medvedev, who leads the head-to-head series 4-0. A red-hot Medvedev is one win away from reaching a sixth consecutive final after taking care of Fabio Fognini 6-3, 7-6(4) in the quarterfinals.

Zverev will meet Matteo Berrettini, who defeated Dominic Thiem 7-6(8), 6-4. Both Zverev and Berrettini are in position for the last two Nitto ATP Finals spots, but the winner of Saturday’s match will be close to a lock whereas the loser will have a lot of work to do.

Tsitsipas clinched his debut London appearance by beating Djokovic.

Draw
Stefanos Tsitsias……bye…..d. Auger-Aliassime…..d. Hurkacz…..d. Djokovic
Daniil Medvedev…..bye…..d. Norrie…..d. Pospisil…..d. Tsitsipas

Matteo Berrettini…..d. Struff…..d. Garin…..d. Bautista Agut…..d. Thiem
Alexander Zverev…..bye…..d. Chardy…..d. Rublev…..d. Federer

Seeds
1. Novak Djokovic: l. to Tsitsipas in QF
2. Roger Federer: l. to Zverev in QF
3. Daniil Medvedev: vs. Tsitsipas in SF4. Dominic Thiem: l. to Berrettini in QF5. Alexander Zverev: vs. Berrettini in SF
6. Stefanos Tsitsipas: vs. Medvedev in QF
7. Karen Khachanov: l. to Fognini in R3
8. Roberto Bautista Agut: l. to Berrettini in R39. Gael Monfils: l. to Hurkacz in R210. Fabio Fognini: l. to Medvedev in QF11. Matteo Berrettini: vs. Zverev in SF
12. Borna Coric: l. to Rublev in R1
13. David Goffin: l. to Federer in R3
14. Diego Schwartzman: l. to Pospisil in R115. Nikoloz Basilashvili: l. to. Thiem in R3
16. John Isner: l. to Djokovic in R3

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on twitter at @Dimonator.