Tsitsipas blasts past Ofner to make French Open quarter-finals
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Tsitsipas book his place in French Open quarter-finals by beating Sebastian Ofner 7-5, 6-3, 6-0.
PARIS (Reuters) - Stefanos Tsitsipas stepped up his bid for an elusive first Grand Slam title as the Greek fifth seed dismantled Austrian qualifier Sebastian Ofner 7-5 6-3 6-0 on Sunday to book his place in the French Open quarter-finals.
Tsitsipas was left broken-hearted after a five-sets defeat by Novak Djokovic in the 2021 Roland Garros final before another loss to the Serbian at January's Australian Open, but the 24-year-old has barely put a foot wrong in Paris this year.
Tsitsipas, who has only dropped one set in his four matches, will face his biggest test when he meets world number one Carlos Alcaraz in the last eight.
The Greek fifth seed continued his charge by battling back from an early break to wrap up the first set and surged through the next, as Ofner's hopes of being the first qualifier to make the quarter-finals of the claycourt major since Marcelo Filippini in 1999 faded fast.
The Court Suzanne Lenglen crowd began a Mexican wave in the third set and Ofner soon found himself trailing 5-0 as the world number 118 struggled to deal with the Tsitsipas tsunami.
He was finally put out of his misery by the Greek who closed out the victory on serve.
Tsitsipas says Alcaraz 'biggest obstacle' ahead of quarter-final
Stefanos Tsitsipas was effusive in his praise of world number one Carlos Alcaraz at the French Open again on Sunday, as the Greek fifth seed described the smiling assassin as one of the biggest obstacles in tennis ahead of their last eight clash.
Former Roland Garros runner-up Tsitsipas outclassed Austrian qualifier Sebastian Ofner 7-5 6-3 6-0 to set up a quarter-final showdown with top seed Alcaraz, where he will hope to seal a first win over the Spaniard in their fifth meeting.
"The clash we've been all waiting for. I think everyone was expecting it, weren't they? It's here. It's game on," Tsitsipas, who had described Alcaraz as a breath of fresh air to tennis for his charisma and constant smiles, told reporters.
Tsitsipas' last meeting with 20-year-old Alcaraz was on the claycourts of Barcelona, where he was comprehensively beaten 6-3 6-4 after falling to a three-set defeat at the same venue a year earlier.
"Carlos is someone that keeps the intensity high at all times. He's someone that's not going to give you gaps where his attention isn't there. He's very hyper. He's very energetic and you can see that on the court," Tsitsipas said.
"He adds a lot of that into the rallies, into his rituals when he is out there playing the game. He has a lot of that when he plays. I think it has helped him a lot.
"He has that smile that he said obviously helps him a lot. Right now he's one of the biggest obstacles and challenges for any player to compete against. It pushes us all to be better."
