Top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas beat home hope Mikael Ymer of Sweden 7-5 6-3 in the quarterfinals at the ATP Stockholm Open on Friday to continue his solid run of form. The match lasted for almost two hours, with the Greek’s victory ensuring he remained in contention to win his third title of the year. Tsitsipas will next take on Emil Ruusuvuori of Finland in the semifinal on Saturday. But what were the keys to his win over Ymer?
#1. Tsitsipas’ Forehand Makes The Difference
Tsitsipas, quite expectedly, dominated a lot of rallies in the first set with his powerful forehand. He hit quite a few winners with it and often ran around his backhand to hit inside-out forehands which remains one of his best shots. The Greek also looked to come come to the net frequently to force the issue against Ymer. He broke Ymer in the third game of the first set to take a 3-1 lead and then stretched the lead to 5-3. However, Ymer, playing in front of his home crowd, broke Tsitsipas when he served for the set to get back on terms. Unfortunately, he was broken again immediately, allowing Tsitsipas to walk away with the set.
#2. Ymer Unable To Convert His Chances
Ymer hit a lot of defensive lobs in the second set and managed to win a few points with them to try and keep Tsitsipas honest at the net. However, Tsitsipas was able to hit overhead smashes to dispatch the ball on most of the occasions with Ymer often having to hit lobs under pressure and on the move.
The Greek was again able to get the decisive break of serve early in the second set and refused to let the Swede back into the match. Ymer did have chances throughout the match, but could convert only one of the 11 break point opportunities he got in the match. Tsitsipas, meanwhile, converted three out of the nine he got. Ymer could also win 41% of the points on his second serve against Tsitsipas’ 58%. In the end, that was decisive.
Main photo:
Embed from Getty Images
