Tsitsipas first Greek since 1936 to reach fourth round

02 Jun, 2019

Stefanos Tsitsipas said he is targeting "more records" after becoming the first Greek player in 83 years to reach the second week at Roland Garros on Saturday as he survived a scare in the third round against Filip Krajinovic. The sixth seed led by two sets overnight, with the match suspended at 5-5 in the third due to darkness at 9:52 pm. local time, and saw Serbia's Krajinovic launch a comeback.
Tsitsipas lost the set in a tie-break but sealed a 7-5, 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (8/6) success on Court Philippe Chatrier after overturning a 5-3 deficit and saving a set point in the fourth. The last Greek player to reach the second week at Roland Garros was Lazaros Stalios in 1936. "I'm proud, proud to be the first one in Open era probably, if you would call it this way," he said. "I think there is more than that, in my opinion. More records to break than just this."
The 20-year-old will take on former champion Stan Wawrinka on Sunday for a place in his second Grand Slam quarter-final, after the three-time major title winner beat Grigor Dimitrov 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (10/8). "It seems like he has found his form, his game. And as we all know, he did quite well at the French Open plenty of times, not just once," said Tsitsipas of Wawrinka, who also reached the final in 2017.

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