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Tsitsipas impresses in Rome to set up quarter against Federer

Stefanos Tsitsipas dismisses 2 Italians in the same day in straight sets.

17 May 2019

Stefanos Tsitsipas had a fantastic day on Thursday in Rome after he won 2 back to back matches in straight sets.

Like most of the other players, the Greek had to cope with the heavy scheduling after the rain made it impossible to play on Wednesday.

Tsitsipas vs. Fognini

Stefanos started the day after he played the Italian rising star and world no. 263 Jannik Sinner to beat the 17-year-old 6-3 6-2.

Soon after, Tsitsipas had to face another home favorite, Fabio Fognini, in the 3rd round. This match was rather smooth for the Greek. After grabbing a fast 4-1 lead, the Tsitsipas was broken in the 7th game (4-3), but then he broke back the Italian in the 10th game at love to win the opening set 6-4.

After trading breaks early in the 2nd set (2-0 and 2-1 for Tsitsipas), the Greek won the decisive break in the 6th game (4-2) before winning the match 6-4 6-3 in just 72 minutes. This was good news for the Italian because he spent also just 77 minutes on court in his previous encounter against Sinner while Roger Federer, his upcoming opponent, had to battle for almost 4 hours on court.

Head to head Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Roger Federer

Stefanos and Roger will square up for a place in the semifinal in Rome. The head to head is 1-1, but they have never played on clay. The Greek will be the guy with more fuel in the tank given the “limited” amount of time that he spent on court, and this may give him an edge against the Swiss.