Stefanos Tsitsipas crashed out of the US Open in the second round on Wednesday. The seventh seed served for the match in the fourth set but went on to lose to qualifier Dominic Stricker. The world No 128 came through 7-5 6-7(2) 6-7(5) 7-6(6) 6-3 to earn the biggest victory of his young career.
Tsitsipas suffered another early exit at the US Open as Stricker picked up his first top 10 win. The 21-year-old Swiss player had come through qualifying to make his US Open main draw debut, beating world No 41 Alexei Popyrin in the first round.
Stricker took the first set against Tsitsipas in their second-round match before the two-time Grand Slam finalist came storming back, winning the next two sets. The 25-year-old served for the match at 5-3 in the fourth set but the qualifier held his nerve and managed to break at a crucial moment, forcing a tiebreak.
The seventh seed was two points from the victory at 5-4 in the breaker but Stricker stole it 8-6 and got the early break in the fifth and final set which proved crucial, serving out the biggest win of his career after four hours and four minutes.
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Tsitsipas had already suffered a disappointing defeat at Wimbledon earlier this summer when he crashed out to Christopher Eubanks in the fourth round, when the American was ranked at No 43 in the world. The Greek player had a strong start to the season when he reached his second Grand Slam final at the Australian Open.
But he has since experienced mixed results and only picked up his first title of the season earlier this month in Los Cabos. Tsitsipas has a poor record in Flushing Meadows and has never reached the second week, crashing out in the first round to Daniel Galan last year.
Stricker only got his first match win at a Grand Slam earlier this summer at Wimbledon, also coming through qualifying. He had the same first-round opponent in Popyrin, defeating the Australian at SW19 before beating him for the second time at this week’s US Open.
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Prior to that, the Swiss player qualified for his first Grand Slam main draw appearance at the French Open but lost to Tommy Paul in the first round. And Stricker has made strides at the Majors every time he has played – now finding himself in the third round.
Stricker will now face either Christopher Eubanks or Benjamin Bonzi on Friday. Tsitsipas is the latest seed to crash out in the bottom half of the draw following world No 4 Holger Rune. And it opens up Novak Djokovic’s path to the final with world No 5 Casper Ruud the highest seed left behind Djokovic in that section.
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