Stefanos Tsitsipas, of Greece, celebrates after defeating Novak Djokovic, of Serbia, at the Rogers Cup men’s tennis tournament in Toronto, Thursday, Aug. 9, 2018. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)
TORONTO — Greek teen Stefanos Tsitsipas upset Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-3 on Thursday in the Rogers Cup.
The 19-year-old Tsitsipas broke the ninth-seeded Serb’s serve early in the third set and held serve from there to reach his first career ATP World Tour Masters 1000 quarterfinal.
“I feel very proud for me, myself, and my country. I’m putting Greece more deep into the map of tennis,” Tsitsipas said. “I’m pretty sure I’m making my family proud, all of those people that are watching, my coach, my father. It was a very emotional win. I’ve never felt so many emotions after a victory.”
Djokovic, a four-time Rogers Cup champion, faded late on a warm, breezy afternoon at Aviva Centre on the York University campus. Tsitsipas set up match point with a scorching cross-court winner before completing the victory in 2 hours, 17 minutes.
“I knew he had some issues in some particular shots in his game, I would say. So I was waiting and I grabbed him like a bulldog and stuck there and executed, I executed my plan,” Tsitsipas said. “I knew that at some point he’s going to break, and I just patiently waited for this moment and it happened.”
Tsitsipas will face second-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany, the defending champion coming off a tournament victory last week in Washington that included a semifinal win over Tsitsipas. The 21-year-old Zverev beat Russia’s Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 6-2.
Top-ranked Rafael Nadal faced Swizterland’s Stan Wawrinka in a night match, with the winner advancing to face sixth-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia. Cilic beat 11th-seeded Diego Schwartzman of Argentina 6-3, 6-2.
Fourth-seeded Kevin Anderson of South Africa and fifth-seeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria set up another quarterfinal. Anderson topped qualifier Ilya Ivashka of Belarus 7-5, 6-3, and Dimitrov beat American Frances Tiafoe 7-6 (1), 3-6, 7-6 (4).
In the other night matches, eighth-seeded John Isner of the United States faced Karen Khachanov of Russia, and Canadian Denis Shapovalov played Robin Haase of the Netherlands.