The Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas (6th) qualified Thursday for the quarter-finals of the Masters 1000 at Paris-Bercy by beating the German Alexander Zverev (9th) 7-6 (7/2), 6-4, winning by the same occasion his ticket for the Masters.
Tsitsipas, 26, is therefore the sixth player officially qualified for the Masters, which will bring together the top 8 of the season from November 12 to 19 in Turin (Italy), thanks to his first victory of the season against a top 10 (in 7 meetings).
Well into the match, he took his opponent’s throw-in very early, on his first opportunity. Despite two first set points on his serve, he however let the German come back to 5-5 and snatch the tie-break. A decisive game that the Greek overcame to win the first set 7-6 (7/2).
On his momentum, the world No.6 broke Zverev from the start, probably diminished by his fight the day before won against Frenchman Ugo Humbert (26th) 6-4, 6-7 (7/3), 7-6 ( 7/5) after 3 hours 29 minutes of play. He then maintained his lead, impeccable on his serve, to win 6-4 in 1 hour 59 minutes of play.
Building on this victory against the German, recently sentenced by the Berlin district court to a fine of 450,000 euros for domestic violence, Tsitsipas reached the quarter-finals of a Masters 1000 for the fourth time this season. He will face the Russian Karen Khachanov (15th), winner of the tournament in 2018, who overthrew his compatriot Roman Safiullin (45th) 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.