Greek tennis player Stefanos Tsitsipas overcame a tough challenge from Roberto Bautista-Agut to enter the 2019 Australian Open semi-final.
Tsitsipas, who had registered a shock win over Roger Federer in their fourth round match on Sunday, came back stronger against the Spaniard to continue his dream run at his third year of Grand Slam tennis tournaments.
Having not made it past round one at the Australian Open on previous visits, Tsitsipas defeated Agut 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(2) to clinch the semi-final berth. This is the first time ever that a Greek player has made it to the semi-final of a Grand Slam event.
He will now take on Rafael Nadal or Frances Tiafoe in the semi-final.
With the scores levelled at one set apiece, Tiafoe was a break down in the third but came back strongly to first break back and then go ahead on that count to clinch it 6-4.
And then in the final set, Tsitsipas completed his win in the tie-breaker, dropping just two points.
Tsitsipas’ match-point against Agut:
The reaction says it all.
Take a bow, @StefTsitsipas! #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/5QKG2gnztY
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 22, 2019
Incidentally, there was some drama around Tsitsipas and his coach Patrick Mouratoglou after the third set. Apparently there was some communication between Tsitsipas and his coaching team which was followed by the Greek being penalised for coaching. He was given a code violation.
Incidentally, it was Mouratoglou who was at the centre of the 2018 US Open final controversy in which Serena Williams was penalised in a similar manner for a similar offence, which was followed by a point and a game penalty.
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