Mallorca (Spain), June 23 (IANS): Stefanos Tsitsipas came through a grass-court battle against American Marcos Giron at the Mallorca Championships to reach his first tour-level semifinal here on Thursday.
The Greek struggled to find his top level against Giron, but raised his game when needed to advance 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-3 in two hours and 35 minutes.
"It was a lot of work today. It was not easy," Tsitsipas said in his on-court interview.
"I had to deal with the heat, had to deal with my opponent playing great. It was a big physical effort. I had the fighting spirit."
In a tight clash at the ATP 250 event, Tsitsipas showed his fighting spirit in a tense third set. The second seed saved both break points he faced to hold for 1-0, before he gained the decisive break in the eighth game to improve to 2-0 in his ATP 'Head to Head' series against Giron.
Tsitsipas, who has earned a Tour-leading 38 wins this season, will next play Benjamin Bonzi after the Frenchman defeated Germany's Daniel Altmaier 6-3, 6-4.
Earlier this month, the World No. 6 earned grass-court victories over Dominic Stricker in Stuttgart and Bonzi in Halle. He now holds a 4-2 record on the surface in 2022.