“Want to beat him” Stefanos Tsitsipas looking to exact revenge from Carlos Alcaraz


“Want to beat him” Stefanos Tsitsipas looking to exact revenge from Carlos Alcaraz

Carlos Alcaraz and Stefanos Tsitsipas

Newly crowned World no. 9 Carlos Alcaraz is one of the in-form players on the Tour this season. Having started the season as the World No. 32, Alcaraz is already into the Top-10 having played just 6 tournaments on the Tour so far this season. With a delayed start to the season as he was recovering from Covid-19, Alcaraz has switched gears very quickly in the last few months.

Alcaraz has won three titles already this season, the ATP-500 claycourt events in Rio and Barcelona along with his first Masters title at the Miami Masters. He is third on the list for qualification to the 2022 ATP Finals and it won’t be a surprise to see him at the year-end championships if he continues playing like that.

During his run in Miami, Alcaraz had defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas in the Round of 16, Hubert Hurkacz in the semi-finals and Casper Ruud in the finals, all Top-10 opponents. He defeated Stef once again, during their quarter-final meeting in Barcelona last week to pick up his fifth Top-10 win of the season having already defeated Matteo Berrettini in Rio.

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“Carlos has built a rivalry with most of us and I think that’s something that can help him, I don’t think it can hurt him. At first, he was the underdog, and now I feel like he’s more in place, people know him better. So obviously his status has changed and we want to beat him as often as he does now,” said Stefanos in a recent podcast appearance as per WeloveTennis.

Carlos Alcaraz and Stefanos Tsitsipas rivalry

Carlos Alcaraz and Stefanos Tsitsipas
Carlos Alcaraz and Stefanos Tsitsipas

Alcaraz and Tsitsipas have met thrice so far. Their first meeting was in the third round of the 2021 US Open where Alcaraz won a thriller of a 5-setter to knock the Greek out while he went on to become the youngest Open Era quarter-finalist of the US Open. Alcaraz had been served a bagel in the 4th set but that did not dampen his spirit as he won a neck-to-neck 5th set tiebreaker to advance ahead.

The pair next met in the 2022 Miami Masters where Alcaraz was ruthless to claim a straight-set win. Despite Stef showing some resistance in the first set, the Spaniard steamrolled the French Open runner-up in the second set. The third and final meeting so far, the quarter-finals of the Barcelona Open was again a close encounter with a lot of drama including Stef hitting a shot on Alcaraz’s body, the teen being caught receiving on-court coaching and Stef getting booed as Alcaraz won the match to take a 3-0 lead in the head-to-head.

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