Stefanos Tsitsipas beating Jannik Sinner at the 2023 Australian Open was ‘huge’, says Mats Wilander

ByNigel Chiu

Published 22/01/2023 at 14:15 GMT

Stefanos Tsitsipas’ thrilling five-set victory over Jannik Sinner was “huge”, according to Eurosport expert Mats Wilander. Tsitsipas was two sets up against the Italian but lost the next two, as Sinner forced a decider. The Greek doesn’t have a great record against players younger than him, which is why Wilander was keen to give plenty of credit to Tsitsipas.

Eurosport expert Mats Wilander believes Stefanos Tsitsipas’ win over Jannik Sinner was “huge” given his recent record against younger players.

Tsitsipas resisted a comeback from Sinner, who was two sets down, to reach the quarter-finals with a 6-4 6-4 3-6 4-6 6-3 victory over the 21-year-old Italian.

In 2022, Tsitsipas lost four matches to two of tennis’ rising stars, Holger Rune and Carlos Alcaraz, and was defeated in five sets by the latter at the 2021 US Open.

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“Really strong effort from Tsitsipas, and mentally a really strong effort as he lost the last time he played Alcaraz and lost the last two times he’s played Rune,” Wilander told Eurosport.

“I think it’s really important he stamped his authority on this, ‘I have to beat these guys, they are younger than me and they are going to take away the chance to win my first slam’.

“So just the fact he beat this up-and-coming guy, is huge for Tsitsipas as No. 3 seed.”

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Tsitsipas has played just one Grand Slam final, at the 2021 French Open which he lost to Rafael Nadal, and has reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open three times.

The 24-year-old faces Jiri Lehecka in the quarter-finals on Tuesday which Wilander feels will be a tough test for the world No. 4.

“He [Lehecka] plays not too dissimilar to Jannik Sinner,” said Wilander. “He's a great ball striker and it's not going to be that easy for Tsitsipas to hurt Lehecka. He moves extremely well

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“He’s most probably going to be the one that's going to try and be the most aggressive, so it's going to be up to Stefanos' problem solving skills, which he showed against Sinner that they were absolutely brilliant in that fifth set.

Watch moment Tsitsipas beats Sinner after five-set epic in marathon clash

“So it's a great match-up, it's quite a lot of a contrast in styles, but it is Lehecka who hasn't been there before, and maybe the experience of being in the quarter-finals for the first time might catch up to the youngster.”

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Stream the 2023 Australian Open live on discovery+, the Eurosport app and at eurosport.co.uk.

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