Title win down to breathing: Tsitsipas

BARCELONA • Stefanos Tsitsipas believes that his maiden Masters title win in Monte Carlo last week was down to him working on his breathing with his psychologist, and the Greek star looks set to continue blowing others away.

The 22-year-old beat Australian Alex de Minaur 7-5, 6-3 in the third round of the Barcelona Open yesterday and on current form, he is ready to improve on his French Open semi-final finish last year when the Grand Slam begins again next month.

With his victory, the world No. 5 is on a 25-5 win-loss record this year, has clinched a seventh consecutive triumph having won 13 straight sets, and has reached the quarter-finals of his last seven events.

He will face Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, who got the better of compatriot Denis Shapovalov 6-2, 6-3, in the last eight today.

On Wednesday, Rafael Nadal had to fight back from a set down to defeat Belarus qualifier Ilya Ivashka as the Spaniard survived an early test in his bid to win the Barcelona title for the 12th time.

The 34-year-old Nadal, who suffered a surprise quarter-final exit at the hands of Andrey Rublev in Monte Carlo last week, dropped the first set against the world No. 111 before pulling through 3-6, 6-2, 6-4.

It was world No. 3 Nadal's 62nd win in the tournament against just four defeats. He faced Japanese star Kei Nishikori in the last 16 yesterday, the result of which was not available at press time.

At the WTA Stuttgart Open, world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty wasted no time on Wednesday booking her place in the quarter-finals.

The top seed needed just 24 minutes to wrap up the first set against Germany's Laura Siegemund before claiming a 6-0, 7-5 second-round win.

"It was good to play on a new surface, the court was quite quick compared to what I am used to," said Barty, who hit six aces in an impressive opening display.

After Charleston, this is 24-year-old Barty's second clay-court tournament to prepare for next month's French Open, where she won in 2019.

In today's quarter-finals, the Australian will be up against Czech former world No. 1 Karolina Pliskova, who yesterday beat Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko - also a former Roland Garros winner - 6-7 (7-9), 6-4, 6-3.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Q-finals: StarHub Ch201, 8pm & 11pm