ATP
Fils gives Tsitsipas the QF flick
Arthur Fils stretched his win streak at the ATP 500 level to 13 in a row on Friday as he dominated Stefanos Tsitsipas with a 7-6 (5), 6-3 victory into the Swiss Indoors semi-finals.
The French talent ranked 20th has been on a tear at this level since mid-July, winning Hamburg and Tokyo titles
Fils bossed third seed Tsitsipas around the court in Basel and could only laugh after it took him four set points to capture the opener against the Greek,, playing here for the first time since 2019.
“I missed two returns and had a double-fault, but I found a way to win the set.”
After that, it was smooth sailing for the Frenchman who nabbed his 10th win over the season over a top 20 opponent.
He spent 82 minutes in victory, firing 10 aces among 26 winners; Tsitsipas won a mere nine return points against the Fils serve.
“I served pretty good and I was very focused,” the winner said, “But I’m not so happy about how I played the tiebreaker.”
The French winner will be playing his ninth career semi-final and brings in a 4-4 record at that stage into Saturday’s match.