After losing their quarter-final matches in California, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverev have been excluded from the Indian Wells Masters.
Greece is ranked third in the world. Tsitsipas was defeated by Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-4-2-6-6-4. In a shock 4-6 6-3 7-6 (7-3) loss to American Taylor Fritz, German Olympic champion Zverev failed to convert two match openings.
Basilashvili will face Fritz for a place in the final on Saturday. It’s the first time a player has gone to the Masters 1000 semi-finals.
Runner-up in the French Open, Tsitsipas, the alternate seed, got off to a slow launch, dropping the first set and managing only eight winners to Basilashvili’s 14.
Tsitsipas, who won his first Masters 1000 title at the Monte Carlo Masters in April, rebounded in the alternate set to dominate. But, just when it appeared that the 23- time-old would repeat his comeback palms against Fabio Fognini and Alex de Minaur in the former rounds, Basilashvili broke Tsitsipas in the third game and produced some great winners to upset the Greek.
“I’ve had a lot of fun at this event. I wasn’t delighted with my performance tonight, but I was pleased with how I dealt with my anxiety.” Commented Basilashvili.
In Friday’s alternate quarter-final, Zverev was serving for the match at 5-3 in the third set, but he hit two double faults, allowing Fritz to break him and take the match. The 23- time-old forced a tie- break, which he won to go to the quarterfinals. Zverev had won 20 of his former 21 matches on hard courts and was on his way to winning his third Masters 1000 crown of the season.
The other semi-final on Saturday recesses Britain’s Cameron Norrie against Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov, the 23rd seed who stunned US Open winner Daniil Medvedev in the last 16 on Wednesday.
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