Tsitsipas, Sinner to meet in 4th round

Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas celebrates winning his 3rd round match against Netherlands’ Tallon Griekspoor
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Stefanos Tsitsipas will play Jannik Sinner in the fourth round at the Australian Open after advancing in contrasting victories on Friday.

Third-seeded Tsitsipas saved a set point in the second set but beat Tallon Griekspoor 6-2, 7-6 (5), 6-3 to reach the last 16 at Melbourne Park for the third time in four years.

Sinner recovered from two sets down for the first time in his career as he beat Marton Fucsovics 4-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-0 after 3 hours, 33 minutes, coming from 2-0 down in the fourth set to win the last 12 games in a row.

“For sure the first two sets were very tough for me,” the 21-year-old Italian and 15th-seeded player said. “I went on court with one tactic, then I had to change a little bit, going a little more to his backhand. We made a lot of work in the off-season physically so today I was good physically in the last few sets.”

Tsitsipas, the highest-ranked player left in the men’s draw following the exits of top-seeded and defending champion Rafael Nadal and No. 2 Casper Ruud, was pushed hard in the second set by the 63rd-ranked Griekspoor.

The Dutch player had a set point on Tsitsipas’ serve at 6-5 in the second set but couldn’t convert it and Tsitsipas pulled away for victory.

Tsitsipas and Sinner have played five times, with the Greek player leading 4-1. The 24-year-old is a three-time Australian Open semifinalist and was the 2021 French Open runner-up to Novak Djokovic. Sinner reached the quarterfinals in Melbourne last year.

Barbora Krejcikova was the first player to advance to the fourth round after a 6-2, 6-3 win over Anhelina Kalinina to open play Friday at Rod Laver Arena.

The 20th-seeded Czech player won the first five games of the match and dominated her Ukrainian opponent. Krejcikova has not dropped a set in three matches.

“I was happy that I was able to put all of them under my belt, there were some close games,” the 2021 French Open champion said of her early lead. “From there I tried to stay aggressive.”