WATCH: Stefanos Tsitsipas has a rare racquet snap at the 2021 Hamburg Open
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Stefanos Tsitsipas
Stefanos Tsitsipas returned to action at the ongoing 2021 Hamburg Open where he entered as the top-seed. The 22-year old Greek was back in action on Clay for the first time since his runner-up finish at the 2021 French Open where he lost in a thrilling 5-setter clash with Novak Djokovic in the finals.
Stefanos was up against Serbian Filip Krajinovic in the quarter-finals of the competition and during the 2nd set of the match, saw his racquet snap into two pieces while attempting to return a shot on his backhand. While the ball did certainly stay within the court, Stefanos was unable to return the next shot as he was left racquet-less with only the handle in his hand.
Stefanos Tsitsipas knocked out in 3-sets in the quarter-finals
While Stefanos did have his racquet replaced it was not his day as he suffered a shock defeat to the World No. 44 Filip Krajinovic. Despite having won the first set, Stefanos could not capitalise on his advantage as he went on to lose the next two sets to crash out of the quarter-finals from the tournament.
Filip went on to win the match 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 in 1 hour and 59 minutes to reach his maiden semi-final of the season as he continues his hunt for his maiden ATP title despite having won 10 Challenger tournaments. This was his third consecutive 3-setter victory this week in Hamburg as he moves into the last-4.
As for Stefanos, having received a bye in the first round, he then dealt with Dominik Koepfer in straight-sets to reach his 11th quarter-final of the season and his 6th quarter-final on Clay. Of the 6 quarter-finals on Clay, this was his 2nd defeat as he won 4 of his quarter-final clashes.
With the hardcourt season set to begin again, Stefanos would look to overcome this result along with his first round defeat at the Wimbledon 2021 in both the Singles and Doubles. Stefanos will now be travelling to Tokyo for the upcoming 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the Singles as well as in the Mixed Doubles along with World No. 19 and 2021 French Open semi-finalist Maria Sakkari.
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Sarthak Shitole
(3462 Articles Published)