Madrid (AFP)
World No.5 Stefanos Tsitsipas came up against the Norwegian Casper Ruud (22nd) in the knockout stages of the Masters 1000 in Madrid in straight sets 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 Thursday.
Tsitsipas, winner of his first Masters 1000 in Monte-Carlo in mid-April, then unhappy finalist in Barcelona ten days ago, not without having had a match point against Rafael Nadal, will not record his 28th victory of the season on Madrid clay.
Ruud, 22 years old like the Greek, offers himself the most prestigious success of his career, his first against a top 5 player, currently N.1 in the Race, the classification established over the calendar year.
In a first set where both players were extremely solid on their face-offs and hit it off - no break points and 39 points each won - Ruud made the difference in the second half of the tie-break by scoring four of the last five points.
In the next round, Tsitsipas paid cash for his drop in service to 3 games everywhere: well helped by two double faults from the Greek, the Norwegian converted his only break opportunity of the game.
Ruud, semi-finalist in Monte-Carlo in mid-April, will face Kazakh Alexander Bublik (44th) in the quarter-finals.
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