The 20-year-old from Greece now owns victories over Nadal, Federer, and Djokovic. He’s on an eight-match win streak, going back to his title run last week in Estoril. He’s guaranteed to move up to a career-high ranking of No.7 on Monday, and would become No.6 with a win today, which would yield him the biggest title of his young career.
Yesterday against Dominic Thiem, Novak Djokovic looked like himself for the first time since January. It was a gruelling two-set battle that played out for almost two-and-a-half hours, during which Novak’s fiery competitive nature returned. A win today would serve as another boost in confidence heading into the French Open, where he’ll go for his fourth straight Major title.
Novak Djokovic (1) vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas (8)
In their only previous meeting, Tsitsipas prevailed last summer in Canada. He took out Djokovic in three sets, one of four top 10 wins he accumulated on his way to the final of that event. Tsitsipas has shown over the past few weeks that he’s fully comfortable on the clay, but the surface should still favour the stellar defensive skills of Djokovic. I would imagine Stefanos will be a bit physically and emotionally drained coming off last night’s victory over Nadal.
And I suspect Novak will be inspired by his performance earlier in the day yesterday, and motivated to re-establish his dominance ahead of Roland Garros. However, you cannot discount the belief of Tsitsipas on these big stages against all-time greats. He’ll certainly arrive to the court believing he can win. But beating Nadal and Djokovic on clay within 24 hours of one another is a daunting task. Djokovic is the favourite to win his third title in Madrid, and his first in three years.
Other notable action on Sunday in Madrid:
In the men’s doubles final, doubles specialists Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau vs. top singles players Diego Schwartzman and Dominic Thiem.
