(Tennis news) Stefanos Tsitsipas will take on Karen Khachanov in his fourth Australian Open semi-final in five years. The Greek tennis player defeated 21 year old Jiri Lehecka 6-3 7-6 (7-2) 6-4, who had never won a Grand Slam match before this year’s Australian Open. The Czech defeated British number 1 Cameron Norrie and Felix Auger-Aliassime to progress into the quarter-finals but was broken in his first service and simply didn’t have enough quality or experience to defeat Tsitsipas. The result meant that the Greek player became the fourth male player to stay unbeaten in his first six Grand Slam quarter-finals after Rod Laver, Patrick Rafter, and Andre Agassi.
“I can say it was a fair dinkum type of performance. It felt different this time from the other time we played but I found a solution. I had to deal with groundstrokes that were coming at me heavy and deep. I put my heart out there” said Stefanos Tsitsipas in the post match interview.
Tsitsipas has a chance to finish as World Number 1 by winning the Australian Open but will first need to overcome Karen Khachanov to play in Sunday’s final. The Russian reached his second consecutive Grand Slam semi-final after Sebastian Korda was forced to retire due to a wrist injury. The American has already defeated Daniil Medvedev and Hubert Hurkacz to reach the quarter-final but faced a disappointing ending to his tournament.
“I had it a little bit in Adelaide a couple weeks ago but then it went away. During the matches, it was completely fine. Then, just one kind of mis-hit return and it started to bother me a lot after that. Some forehands, I couldn’t even hold the racket. Volleying was almost impossible for me. So it was a little tough. There is a lot of positives, way more positives than negatives.
“Today was tough but hopefully it’s nothing serious and I can take care of it so I don’t have it in the future. I’m really proud of myself. Going forward, I’m going to keep on trying to do the same thing, keep on mentally being the same way. I think I can do some really big things in the near future.” – Sebastian Korda
Also read: Emma Raducanu to prioritise fitness after early exit from Australian Open
