2020 in Review: Stefanos Tsitsipas eases past Alexander Zverev to keep Greece alive

On January 5 in Brisbane, Germany prevailed over Greece in the ATP Cup, with the tie heading down to the wire and a thrilling doubles encounter that the Germans claimed 17-15 in the match tie break! In the opening match, Jan-Lennard Struff scored triumph over Michail Pervolarakis, leaving Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas to battle in the second. In Toronto 2018, the Greek saved two match points against the defending champion Zverev, gathering momentum in their encounters and beating the German for the fifth straight time at the ATP Cup to keep his country alive. Stefanos sprinted past Alexander 6-1, 6-4 in an hour and 14 minutes to earn the first victory at this competition and keep his country alive ahead of the deciding doubles clash. Zverev made a convincing start against Alex de Minaur in the first match, opening a 6-4, 4-2 lead before the Aussie performed a comeback, leaving the German empty-handed and with usual frustrations.

Things were even worse for the three-time Masters 1000 champion against Tsitsipas, landing 45% of the first serve in and hitting two aces and ten double faults, just four less from what he gifted to de Minaur. Tsitsipas grabbed half of the return points, creating seven chances and scoring four breaks that kept him safe, giving away only 11 points behind the initial shot and one break of serve that couldn't change the scoreboard. The Greek held with a crafty volley winner at the net in the opening game, wasted a break chance in game two and fixed that in the next return game when Alexnader sprayed a backhand error to open a 3-1 advantage.

Stefanos Tsitsipas lost just five games against Alexander Zverev at the ATP Cup.

A forehand winner pushed Stefanos 4-1 up, and he grabbed another break a few minutes later thanks to a double fault from a frustrated German, who was losing ground more and more as the match progressed. Serving for the set, Tsitsipas landed four winners in game seven for a commanding 6-1 in 30 minutes, doing everything right and leaving Zverev far behind in almost every segment.

The German finally did something more on the return in the second set's second game, forcing an error from the Greek to grab a break and open a 2-0 advantage, desperate for more of the same in the rest of the set. Still, his serve didn't exist on that day, struggling to find the right toss and hitting another double fault to get broken a few minutes later. Tsitsipas held at love and notched another break after a double fault from Zverev in game five, with the German yelling towards his father from the bench and making him cry! A half-volley winner sent Tsitsipas 4-2 in front and the victory was within his sight, sealing the deal with a half-volley winner in game ten to wrap up an impressive win, his first of the season.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3ohfEXn