Masters 1000 Indian Wells – Quarter-final: Stefanos Tsitsipas defeated by Nikoloz Basilashvili

By dint of playing with fire, he ended up burning himself. Stefanos Tsitsipas was surprised Friday by Nikoloz Basilashvili, 36th player in the world, in the quarterfinals at Indian Wells. The Greek, who had already grazed the correctional during the two previous rounds, this time paid for his mistakes, losing in three sets (6-4, 2-6, 6-4) and 2:09 of play. None of the first two seeds of the Californian tournament will therefore not be at the rendezvous of the last four. The Georgian, meanwhile, will play his first half in Masters 1000 either against Alexander Zverev or against Taylor Fritz.

Definitely, this fall Indian Wells is full of surprises. After the early and stunning elimination of Daniil Medvedev, it was Stefanos Tsitsipas who failed to assume his status on Friday. As against Fabio Fognini and Alex de Minaur, the world number 3 struggled to fully enter his match before reacting. But he could not maintain a sufficient level of play to avoid disappointment.

Tsitsipas never found the rhythm

Dominated in power from the baseline, the Greek had a catastrophic start, conceding a quick double break (4-1), taken by the length and heaviness of the opposing ball. If he made up part of his delay, he logically conceded the first round in stride. To keep up with the shock in the exchange, he then decided to take a step back and use more rounded and outgoing trajectories, a paying tactic rewarded with a break (4-6, 4-1). More solid, he even set the record straight by once again seizing the opposing service (4-6, 6-2).

From then on, everything seemed to indicate that Tsitsipas was going to get by, especially since the person concerned was able to quickly erase a break conceded from the start of the third act. And yet, he failed to drive home the point, quite the contrary. In the baseline game, Basilashvili continued to show the most inspiration, making his opponent feverish. And at 3-3, 30/40, Tsitsipas committed his second double fault of the match, one too many. He never got over it. There will therefore be no electric reunion with Zverev in the semifinals.