The Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, 5th seed, dominated the Croatian Borna Coric on Thursday in successive sets (6-3, 6-4) to qualify for the semifinals of the Masters 1000 in Rome, where he will face the Russian Daniil Medvedev ( No. 3 world).
Finalist last year tsitsipas He had to work hard in the second set but he continues an immaculate course on Roman clay, where he has not dropped a single set in four games.
Encouraged by the crowd on center court, despite having knocked out two locals in the previous rounds (Sonego and Musetti), the Greek increased his level at key moments, helped by his forehands against a very combative Coric.
The forcefulness of @steftsitsipas ?
He has won the 8⃣ sets that he has played this fortnight in the @InteBNLdItaly ?pic.twitter.com/UM25OLl8f3
— ATP Tour in Spanish (@ATPTour_ES) May 18, 2023
Hours before, Medvedev He comfortably defeated the German Yannick Hanfmann (101st ATP), 6-2 and 6-2.
The 27-year-old Russian, who had never won a match on Roman clay in his three previous appearances (2018, 2019 and 2021), confirmed his new performance on clay this year with this fourth victory in a row and having left a just set by the way.
“When I lost in Rome, I usually spent a few days here with my wife. Now I have less time. When you qualify again, you don’t go sightseeing, to the Vatican or the Colosseum, ”she smiled.
Hard Court specialist ✅
Clay Court specialist? ?@DaniilMedwed is through to the Rome semi-finals with a 6-2 6-2 win over Hanfmann!#IBI23 pic.twitter.com/wPYwF4nARV—Tennis TV (@TennisTV) May 18, 2023
Medvedev, “sad” by Nadal
The 31-year-old Hanfmann was contesting his first Masters 1000 quarterfinals, having eliminated two members of the top-10, Andrey Rublev (#6) and Taylor Fritz (#9) in the previous rounds.
With this qualification to the semifinals, Medvedev matches his best performance on clay in a Masters 1000, with the semifinal played in Monte Carlo in 2019.
Also read: Nadal will not play Roland Garros and envisions his retirement
The other semifinal will oppose the Danish Holger Rune (7th) with the Norwegian Casper Ruud (4th).
There are four candidates in search of a first title in Rome, where the final will be played without Djokovic (6 titles) nor nadal (10 titles) for the first time in almost two decades (2004).
On the track, when ‘Rafa’ announced his withdrawal for Roland Garros (May 28 – June 11), Medvedev regretted this “sad news”, while he was “happy to hear that (Nadal) will try to return”.
Although he remarked that this “opens up possibilities for many players” in Paris.
