World number six Stefanos Tsitsipas struggled late but advanced to the ATP Washington Open quarter-finals on Thursday by defeating Australia's Jordan Thompson 6-3, 7-6 (7/4). The 20-year-old Greek top seed took the only break of the match to claim the first set and after some tense moments won the tie-breaker when Thompson netted a forehand after 99 minutes at the US Open hardcourt tune-up event.
"It was kind of tricky at the end," Tsitsipas said. "I kept doing silly mistakes in the tie-breaker. I was not happy about it. I made a lot of unforced errors. "I played great to get break points, then I started thinking about it. I didn't identify the right occasion to come to the net. Just a little lost." "I believe I can handle those situations more mature in my next matches."
In the quarter-finals, Tsitsipas will meet French 10th seed Benoit Paire, who ousted US fifth seed John Isner 7-6 (7/3), 6-3. "He's a very dangerous player," said Tsitsipas of Paire. "He has a big backhand. His serve can be dangerous. I'll have to be careful. He's very unpredictable." Tsitsipas, who beat Roger Federer in January on his way to the Australian Open semi-finals, seeks his fourth career ATP title after crowns last October in Stockholm, last February at Marseille and in May at Estoril.
Tsitsipas reached the 2018 Washington semi-finals and a week later became the youngest player to ever beat four top-10 ATP players in the same week before losing to Rafael Nadal in the Canada Masters final. Croatian sixth seed Marin Cilic, the 2014 US Open champion, beat Canadian ninth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-3, 6-4.
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