It’s over for Stefanos Tsitsipas. The double defending champion lost in Monte-Carlo in the quarter-finals against the American Taylor Fritz (10th in the world) in two sets, 6-2, 6-4. On a bad day, the Greek fell on a bone. It only took 1 hour and 10 minutes for the American to overcome the world number 3.
Taylor Fritz, however, had never beaten Tsitsipas in his career. He had never even beaten a top 10 player on clay. It is also the first time in 20 years that an American player has reached this stage of the competition in Monte-Carlo (Vince Spadea in 2003). Tsitsipas falls from above. The Greek had won their three previous meetings, on hard court, and remained on a series of twelve games won on Monegasque soil – with only one set lost in total. But this Friday, there was simply no match, from the first point, the game turned to Fritz’s advantage. “My level was very high, I played very well, savored Fritz. Beating him here gives me a lot of confidence.” The American will face Russian Andrey Rublev in the semi-finals on Saturday.
The 25-year-old American won the best of his five titles to date in 2022 at the Masters 1000 in Indian Wells and had never reached the last four in the Principality. Last year, he was stopped there in the quarterfinals by Alejandro Davidovich, future finalist. By winning the Delray Beach tournament this year, he had climbed to 5th place in the world, becoming the first American to enter the Top5 since Andy Roddick in September 2009.
