Stefanos Tsitsipas continued his strong debut week at the Hamburg European Open on Saturday, overcoming Cristian Garin 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 to reach the championship match.
The reigning Nitto ATP Finals champion converted three of four break points to reach his third final of the year after two hours and 15 minutes. Tsitsipas is chasing his second clay title, following his 2019 triumph at the Millennium Estoril Open.
“It was nerve-wracking. During the match [there were] lots of nerves,” said Tsitsipas, in an on-court interview. “The match was very close and towards the end I showed great responsibility and took advantage of my strengths.”
Tsitsipas improves to 22-8 at tour-level in 2020. The Greek is in third position for most victories this year, trailing only Novak Djokovic (31) and Andrey Rublev (24).
Most ATP Tour Wins In 2020
| Rank | Player | Win/Loss Record |
| 1 | Novak Djokovic | 31-1 |
| 2 | Andrey Rublev | 24-6 |
| 3 | Stefanos Tsitsipas | 22-8 |
| 4 | Casper Ruud | 20-9 |
| 5 | Felix Auger-Aliassime | 18-13 |
Tsitsipas is the first player to defeat Garin in an ATP Tour semi-final. Garin entered the contest with a 5-0 record at this stage, but could not find a way past the Greek to reach his third final of the year.
“I am very, very happy that I am able to play such good tennis in such a beautiful German city, get great support and just be able to show my best, play my best and be my best in this city,” said Tsitsipas.
Garin earned back-to-back clay trophies at the Cordoba Open and the Rio Open presented by Claro during February’s ‘Golden Swing’. The World No. 22 is in second place on the clay wins list this year with a 13-3 record on the surface. Only Casper Ruud owns more 2020 victories on the dirt (15-4).
Tsitsipas will face Rublev for the trophy on Sunday. They are tied at 1-1 in their ATP Head2Head series. Tsitsipas claimed a five-set victory against the Russian en route to the 2018 Next Gen ATP Finals trophy and Rublev won their most recent match in four sets at last year’s US Open.
The Athens native has a 1-1 record in finals this season. For the second straight year, Tsitsipas captured the Open 13 Provence trophy in Marseille (d. Auger-Aliassime) and finished as runner-up at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships (l. to Djokovic).
After saving the first break point of the match with a powerful serve at 2-2, Tsitsipas claimed the opening break in the following game. The Greek moved up the court and attacked Garin’s backhand to establish a 4-2 lead.
From 2-5 down, Garin increased his aggression and extracted forehand errors from his opponent to level the score. But Tsitsipas held his nerve under pressure on serve at 5-5 and gained a late break to seal the set. The reigning Nitto ATP Finals champion capitalised on three errors from Garin to earn two set points and took the first opportunity with a backhand passing shot up the line.
Garin found form on his return at the start of the second set. The Chilean took time away from his opponent to earn break point at 1-1 and converted his chance with a huge forehand return winner. Garin played with patience from the back of the court to soak up pressure from Tsitsipas and forced a decider with another service break, looping a forehand up the line before driving a flat crosscourt backhand into the same corner.
As he had in previous games when he broke serve, Tsitsipas benefitted from Garin double faults to move into a 3-2 lead in the deciding set. One break was all the World No. 6 needed. Tsitsipas closed the match with strong serving and came to the net to convert his first match point with a forehand volley.
“That last break [in] the middle of the third set was very crucial and I think putting a lot of dedication and hard work in every single game, trying to stay mentally there [helped]… I just wanted to give my best performance and my best possible tennis,” said Tsitsipas.
