Tsitsipas advances to last eight showdown with Medvedev at French Open
Fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas advanced to the last eight at the French Open for the second consecutive year after a three-set win over the 12th seed Pablo Carreno Busta.
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Tsitsipas raced into a 3-0 lead in the first set against the experienced Spaniard and maintained his advantage throughout.
The 22-year-old Greek wrapped it up with his second ace to collect the opener 6-3 after 40 minutes.
The second set was one-way traffic. And Tsitsipas notched that up 6-2 to take command of the tie.
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Carreno Busta, who reached the quarter-finals last year, staved off a couple of break points at the start of the third before holding.
Hitting with more authority and penetration, he then claimed the Tsitsipas serve to lead 2-0. He held onto the advantage but cracked when serving at 4-2.
Tsitsipas came back to 4-4 and it was level pegging until the 29-year-old Spaniard attempted to take a 6-5 lead. He faltered and Tsitsipas served out confidently to win the third set 7-5 and complete the match in two hours and seven minutes.
"My tactics were good," Tsitsipas told the on-court interviewer Fabrice Santoro. "Apart from the drop shots ... I'll have to work on those. But overall I felt great. My serve worked well and i was able to penetrate with my shots."
Challenge
Tsitsipas will need all sectors of his game to be fully functioning on Tuesday when he takes on the second seed Daniil Medvedev.
The 25-year-old Russian has claimed six of their seven meetings since 2018. And though he had never won a match in his four visits to the French Open before the 2021 tournament, Medvedev beat Tsitsipas in their only clay court encounter at the 2019 Monte Carlo Masters.
Medvedev moved into his first quarter-final appearance in Paris with a straight sets destruction of the 22nd seed Cristian Garin.
He beat the Chilean 6-2, 6-1, 7-5 in two hours and four minutes.
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