Stefanos Tsitsipas sets up mouth-watering Stan Wawrinka clash in Paris

Image Courtesy: Twitter/@StefTsitsipas

Greek sixth-seed Stefanos Tsitsipas dug deep to set up a potentially explosive fourth-round clash against Stan Wawrinka at the French Open, completing a 7-5, 6-3, 6-7(5), 7-6(6) victory against Serbian Filip Krajinovic on Saturday.

The 20-year-old Tsitsipas completed the win after play was suspended late on Friday evening to secure his second straight last-16 appearance at a Grand Slam, just like Wawrinka who downed Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 7-6(5), 7-6(4), 7-6(8), also over two days.

Wawrinka, the 2015 French Open champion, had the court One crowd on their feet as he rallied from 6-2 down in the third-set tiebreak.

"I know he has been struggling with some injuries, and he had a serious operation recently, so to me, it seems like he has found his form, his game," said Tsitsipas, referring to Wawrinka`s knee surgery at the end of 2017. 

"And as we all know, he did quite well at the French Open plenty of times, not just once. He`s a dangerous player. He knows clay very well. He has a big game.

"I`m much younger than him, so I think when it comes to the physical, I guess I have a little bit of an advantage; but when it comes to experience, he`s a bit more experienced than me," he said of Wawrinka, who also reached the final at Roland Garros in 2017.

Tsitsipas resumed his match at 5-5 in the third and looked wobbly in losing the tiebreak before finally winning in four sets on Court Philippe-Chatrier. 

A runner-up in Madrid and semi-finalist in Rome in the run-up to the claycourt Grand Slam, Tsitsipas had breezed through the first two sets and appeared on the brink of a no-nonsense win when play resumed in searing heat on Saturday.

But Krajinovic threw everything he had at Tsitsipas, unsettling the 20-year-old.

Two straight double faults handed a break to Krajinovic in the fourth set, but the Serbian let his guard down and allowed Tsitsipas to get another crack at a tiebreak.

The Greek saved a set point as Krajinovic lost his composure, hitting long on the first match point.