Eight matches unbeaten: Stefanos Tsitsipas advances through to Barcelona semi-finals

Former finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas extended his winning streak to eight matches on Friday for a place in the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell semi-finals.

The second-seeded Greek, who captured his first ATP Masters 1000 trophy at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters (d. Rublev) last week, produced another impressive performance to beat No. 10 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-3, 6-3 in 83 minutes.

“I think my hard efforts paid off,” said Tsitsipas, who has now won 14 sets in a row.

“I wouldn’t say it was the best start, but I managed to win my serve from 0/40 down [in the second game]. That got me into the match and that helped me to break him at the end. I didn’t panic, but I knew what I was doing. It feels good to be able to play the way I am. I really hope the winning streak continues.”

Tsitsipas lost just seven of his first service points against Auger-Aliassime (29/37), striking 11 winners and committing just nine unforced errors. The 22-year-old is now 25-5 on the season.

READ MORE: Stefanos Tsitsipas defeats Aussie young gun Alex de Minaur in straight sets

Auger-Aliassime appeared to be the stronger in the first four games, but could not convert three break points in Tsitsipas’ first service game. Tsitsipas slowly worked his way into the match and once Auger-Aliassime struck a forehand into the net to be broken in the fifth game, the Greek grew in confidence. Tsitsipas closed the 46-minute opener after Auger-Aliassime his a forehand long.

Another groundstroke error cost Auger-Aliassime in the fourth game of the second set and Tsitsipas stayed in control to complete his 25th match win of the season (25-5).

The Greek will next face rising Italian star Jannik Sinner after the 19-year-old made another significant breakthrough, defeating the in-form Russian Andrey Rublev 6-4 6-7 (4-7) 6-4.

Sourced By: ATP Tour