Milan Italy
On Thursday Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alex de Minaur easily won their final round robin matches in straight sets. 24 hours later, it was anything but the same for the two youngest players at the Next Gen ATP Finals.
The number two seed de Minaur, had a Friday to remember starting off the night needing five sets to defeat seventh seed Jaume Munar 3-4, 4-1, 4-1, 3-4, 4-2 in a highly entertaining affair. That was followed by another cracker of a match as top seed Stefanos Titsipas got past No. 5 Andrey Rublev in five sets as well 4-3, 3-4, 4-0, 2-4, 4-3. Fans who packed the arena definitely getting their moneys worth on the night with some stellar shotmaking and a little bit of drama thrown in as well.
De Minaur, who still hasn’t been broken in the entire tournament, should have won his match in four sets. Up 3-2 with Munar serving at 0-40, the 19-year old had four chances to close things out but credit to the Spaniard for fighting back and then going on to win the tiebreak.
However, De Minaur broke Munar in the first game of the final set and then held serve the rest of the way to advance. There were some memorable rallies throughout but in the end it was the faster Australian who made the right shots at the right time who came away victorious. It was icing on the cake for de Minaur who also won the ATP Newcomer of the Year Award earlier in the day. Once ranked World No. 208 at the start of 2018, de Minaur has now reached his third final of the year and his ranking has shot up to World. No 31.
“It was a roller coaster of a match,’ said the Aussie. “Always knew coming in playing against Jaume that he’s an incredible fighter and competitor, and I was going to have to win this match. He played some really good tennis when he needed it in the fourth set. There was stages where it wasn’t looking too good for me, especially after that fourth set. But I’m very happy with my attitude and composure and the way I’ve been playing this whole week.”
Tsitsipas will also remember November 9, 2018 for years to come as he also received some hardware from the ATP winning the ATP Most Improved Player of the Year Award. He was presented the trophy immediately after his hard fought match with Rublev, one that could have gone either way.
Tsitsipas, ranked No. 15 in the World after starting the year at No. 91, split the first two sets with the 21-year old Russian after each player won a tiebreak. Tsitispas dominated the third, registering the first 4-0 score in 14 matches of the Next Gen Finals tournament.
But in the fourth Rublev stormed back and after he broke with a backhand winner to go up 3-2, Tsitispas unleashed some frustration during the changeover. He banged his hand down on a stack of towels three times and then took his anger out on the coaches headset smashing it down on the table. The device allowing the players to speak to their coaches was blown to pieces.
Before the start of the next game, the 20-year old was then forced to take a medical timeout after chair umpire Ali Nili noticed a cut on his left finger likely from the obliterating the headset. After getting taped up, it was Rublev who then held to force a decider.
More drama in the fifth. Rublev facing a match point down 2-3 and Deuce was called for his second time code violation of the match. That meant he lost his first serve and would only have a second serve on match point. Rublev, appeared not to realize the implications and unleashed a 196 km/hr rocket into the corner. Luckily it went in and Tsitsipas couldn’t get the return forcing a final set breaker.
In that tiebreak Tsitispas jumped out to an early 4-1 lead after a big serve wide which Rublev was unable to return. After a pair of unforced errors and a fall behind the baseline it was the Greek native who was victorious and moving on to the Final
“I want to go to sleep. That’s how I feel,” said a fatigued Tsitsipas speaking to the press after Midnight in Milan. “You feel great after this, after winning such matches, because there has been a lot of effort, really, I mean, hard work. You know, we were hours on the court fighting, you know, wanting that win. But, yeah, the one that gets it at the end, I think, is the most happy person on earth. And, yeah, I’m very satisfied.”
Saturday’s final between Tsitispas and de Minaur won’t start before 9pm local time in Milan. Munar and Rublev will play for third place before the finale starting at 7. The winner of the No.1 vs No. 2 seeded final will take home a $407,000US undefeated first place pay cheque. A nice early Christmas present for one of these Next Gen stars of the game.
Tsitsipas won the lone head-to-head meeting against de Minaur just over a month ago in Japan. A three sets win in the second round 6-3, 5-7, 6-1.
@Sportshorn
