In what could be the match of the tournament, fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas rallied from two sets to one down to knock off 20th seed Taylor Fritz 4-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in their fourth-round encounter at the 2022 Australian Open.
Both men played brilliant tennis, Tsitsipas firing 53 winners and 19 aces while Fritz had 52 winners and 13 aces. The Greek is into the quarterfinals of a major for the first time since Roland Garros last year.
Greek star wins classic against rising young American
Fritz created the first break opportunities of the match in the fifth game, but Tsitsipas was able to save both despite getting a time violation and losing a first serve in the process.
The American did break through after dragging the Greek out wide and he forced Tsitsipas into a forehand error to go in front 4-3. Serving for the set at 5-4, he belted a cross-court forehand winner on set point to take the opening set.
Both men were rolling along on serve until the Greek unleashed a vicious return to force Fritz into an unforced error and earn his first break of the contest to level the match at one set all.
Tsitsipas fended off four break points in the opening game of the third set, but he was broken midway through when a shanked forehand gave Fritz a 4-3 lead and soon after, he found a forehand winner to go in front, a huge upset in the making.
The fourth set saw the two combatants go toe-to-toe as honors were even through the first seven games. Fritz then blinked, dumping a forehand to give Tsitsipas the advantage and he served out the set a game later.
Aces were piling up on both sides as the two men exchanged holds. In the ninth game, Fritz saved a break point, but an error on the second gave Tsitsipas a 5-4 advantage. Serving for the match, he held to 15 to finish off a match to remember.