TORONTO, Canada (AFP) – Stefanos Tsitsipas defeated his second seed in as many days at the Toronto Masters on Thursday, stunning Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals.
The Greek teenager, who turns 20 on Sunday, followed up his defeat of seventh seed Dominic Thiem, beating four-time champion Djokovic, seeded ninth, in a first-time meeting.
“This was the best match of my career,” Tsitsipas said. “I knew I was playing pretty good today.”
Tsitsipas, ranked 27, spent just over two hours in advancing to the first Masters 1000 quarter-final of his career.
The 19-year-old forced the former world number one Djokovic onto the back foot in the first set but was unable to wrap up a straight-sets win as the 13-time Grand Slam champion claimed the tiebreak with the Greek firing long having saved two set points.
In the third set, the teenager showed great composure to break for a 2-0 lead and then saved a break point for a 3-0 margin.
He rounded off his afternoon with back-to-back winners to send Djokovic, the winner of 30 Masters titles, out on a first match point.
He played very well and deserved to win without a doubt,’’ Djokovic said. ‘’I just played not that great.
Upset scenarios were not in the plan of holder Alexander Zverev, who rolled over Russian Daniil Medvedev, 6-3, 6-2, in just 52 minutes while never facing a break point.
Bulgarian fifth seed Grigor Dimitrov required almost two and a half hours to subdue Frances Tiafoe of the United States 7-6 (7/1), 3-6, 7-6 (7/4).
He next faces Wimbledon runner-up and fourth seed Kevin Anderson who defeated Ilya Ivashka of Belarus 7-5, 6-3 to also make the last-eight.
Sixth seed Marin Cilic continued his quiet progress, beating Argentine 11th seed Diego Schwartzman 6-3, 6-2.
