- Sven Tennis • Day 13 • Melbourne • We Heart AO, and Some Bad News
- Rising Tennis Stars Photo Gallery • Auger-Aliassime, Shapovalov, Sinner, Tsitsipas and More
- Australian Open Tennis 2021 Quarantine Off To Ominous Start, 47 Players And Counting Already Impacted
- Sven Tennis • Day 12/13 • Not The Start We All Wanted
- Tennis • Stan Wawrinka, Grigor Dimitrov Headline Melbourne 1 • Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic set for ATP Cup
- Sven Tennis • Day 11/12 • Australian Open • Hotel Room Quarantine
- Sven Tennis • Day 11 • Travel Day #2 • Welcome to Melbourne
- Sven Tennis • Day 11 • Travel Day #1 • Doha to Melbourne
- Sven Tennis • Day 10 • Recovery and Travel Day
- Ymer, Alcaraz Qualify for Australian Open Tennis Main Draw, Join Veterans Stakhovsky and Tomic
- Andy Murray Hit By Covid Ahead Of Australian Open Tennis
- De Minaur Triumphs In Antalya, Hurkacz Holds Off Korda For Delray Beach Tennis
- Sven Tennis • Day 9 • 3rd Round At The Australian Open Tennis Qualifiers
- Bernie Tomic, Dustin Brown, Taro Daniel, and Viktor Troicki Part of Final Round at Australian Open Tennis Qualifying
- Updated Tennis Draws, Results And Order Of Play For Jan. 13th • Antalya Open and Delray Beach
Tennis • Tsitsipas Scrapes Past Isner, Serena Loses A Wild One To Sakkari In Cincinnati
- Updated: August 26, 2020

By Ricky Dimon
Stefanos Tsitsipas advanced to the quarterfinals of the Western & Southern Open with a 7-6(2), 7-6(4) victory over John Isner on Tuesday evening. Tsitsipas survived yet another Isner match that had zero breaks of serve after one hour and 41 minutes.
The Greek was simply too good in the two ‘breakers during what was otherwise an even contest.
“Although I didn’t get any breaks,” the 22-year-old reflected, “I still felt very comfortable starting the tiebreakers on both two sets. It is very difficult playing tall players like John. The serve is obviously the most difficult part. Throughout the entire match I think my return was at a very high level…. It is turning out to be a productive tournament. I’ve been working very hard to get to this point. Things have been working good.”
And this was certainly good preparation for the quarterfinals on Wednesday, because up next for Tsitsipas is another huge server — 6’11” American Reilly Opelka. Opelka advanced with a 6-3, 7-6(4) win over Matteo Berrettini 6-3, 7-6(4).
“That is quite crazy,” Tsitsipas said of his draw so far. “I will play three very tall players (also Kevin Anderson) in the span of four days. I played Reilly in my junior years and it’s great to have the opportunity to play him another time.”
There will be no more opportunities for match play before the U.S. Open for Serena Williams. The 38-year-old led Maria Sakkari by a set and 5-3 in the second but somehow ended up losing. Sakkari stormed back for a 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-1 upset as Williams disappeared both mentally and physically in the third.
“It was tough, but I mean, I literally should have won that match,” the 23-time Grand Slam champion admitted. “There was no excuse. So it was hard, but I had so many opportunities to win and I have to figure that one out, like how to start winning those matches again. There is really no excuse, to be honest. I started cramping, but I shouldn’t have been in that situation. I don’t think that helps mentally when it’s like you know the match is over and you have won the match, and now your legs were already tired and now they are even more tired, and now it’s even more tired.

“I literally put myself in this situation. I put myself in a bad situation. You know, it’s like dating a guy that you know sucks. That’s literally what I keep doing out here. It’s like I have got to get rid of this guy. It just makes no sense. It’s frustrating.”
Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on twitter at @Dimonator.