MONTE CARLO: Defending champion Stefanos Tsitsipas came out on top from a thrilling quarter-final clash with Diego Schwartzman, prevailing 6-2, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4 on Friday to set up a meeting with Alexander Zverev at the Monte Carlo Masters.

The Greek third seed was 5-2 up in the second set but inexplicably lost the plot and trailed 4-0 in the decider before rediscovering his touch.

“I don’t think I’ve ever made such a comeback in my career. It was crazy... I found the resources and I’m proud of it,” said Tsitsipas.

He will take on Zverev for a place in Sunday’s final after the German world number three claimed an epic 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) victory against Italian Jannik Sinner.

“Sad to have won,” said an ironic Zverev to a crowd made up of many vocal Italians.

Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Grigor Dimitrov advanced to the other semi-final.

Davidovich Fokina added Indian Wells champion Taylor Fritz to his high profile scalps this week with a 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 win. The 22-year-old Spaniard, ranked 46th in the world, ousted world number one Novak Djokovic in the second round.

He will take on Bulgarian Dimitrov, who also needed three sets to get past Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-2).

It seemed like Tsitsipas’ match against Schwartzman would be a walk in the park for the Greek.

He went 6-2, 5-2 quickly before suddenly losing his composure in spectacular fashion.

Schwartzman, a claycourt specialist, forced a tiebreak, which he breezed through, and Tsitsipas seemed lost, being penalised for a foot fault.

He went 4-0 down in the third set but won the remaining six games to wrap it up on his second match point.

Zverev, the world number three, shrugged off a thigh problem and looked to have the upper hand, reeling off a series of 13 winning points for a 4-1 lead in the first set against a 20-year-old opponent nursing a blistered foot.

But Sinner, buoyed on by a vocal Italian crowd on the French Riviera not far from home, fought back to 4-4, with a Zverev double fault then allowing the Italian to wrap up the first set.

Sinner broke again in the second set to lead 2-1, but Zverev dug deep to pull ahead 5-3 and hold serve for a set all.

The pair traded breaks again in the third set with Olympic champion Zverev edging a tight tie-break on his first match point to return to the semi-finals for a second time after 2018.

Published in Dawn, April 17th, 2022