ATP Cup 2020: Alex De Minaur v Stefanos Tsitsipas headlines Australia v Greece tie
Alex de Minaur has already led Australia into the ATP Cup quarter-finals - but on Tuesday night he has a chance to complete a confidence-boosting sweep.
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Two down, one to go.
Having already claimed the scalps of Germany’s Alexander Zverev and Canada’s Denis Shapovalov, emerging Australian star Alex de Minaur can make it ATP Cup Group F clean sweep of players ranked higher than him by beating Greek hotshot Stefanos Tsitsipas at Pat Rafter Arena on Tuesday night.
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While the pressure is off in terms of Australia having already qualified for the quarter-finals, ranking points and bragging rights will be offer tonight in the marquee singles match-up.
Beaten by Shapovalov 7-6, 7-6 on Friday, world No.6 Tsitsipas hit back on Sunday night with a 6-1, 6-4 demolition of fellow top-10 player Zverev.
“He’s got a heck of a lot of firepower, so I’m going to have to come out with my team and have a game plan to try and neutralise him and … play my game as much as I can,” world No.18 de Minaur said.
“I know it’s going to be an incredibly tough match, but that’s the beauty of it - I’ve got another chance to go out there and just test myself and see what I can do.”
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Tsitsipas will take a heavy heart into Tuesday night’s tie.
Despite his great singles win over Zverev, the reigning ATP Finals champion was dejected he could not lead Greece to an overall victory over the Germans after he and Michail Pervolarakis were beaten in a tense doubles super tie-breaker to lose 3-6, 6-3, 17-15 to Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Miel.
“I’m very proud of myself the way I played and at the same time I feel disappointed I came so close (in the doubles),” Tsitsipas said.
“Whenever I had to return in the crucial moments I couldn’t make a single return inside the court. I tried to stay relaxed and calm but probably my attention was somewhere else.”
Tsitsipas would like to make amends tonight to Greek fans who have turned out in numbers at Pat Rafter Arena.
“It was nuts. People loved it. We got a lot of support, more than them (Germany), and that’s what makes it more by terrible, when you have the whole crowd for you, it’s an advantage,” he said.
The fitness of Australia’s number two singles player Nick Kyrgios (back) will be monitored before a decision is made whether he will play against Greece.
John Millman replaced Kyrgios in Australia’s 3-0 win over Canada on Sunday, with the Queenslander beating Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-4, 6-2.
De Minaur was inspired by Millman’s performance.
“There’s not many people that work harder than him,” de Minaur said of the 30-year-old Brisbane product.
“He got the call up, he did everything in his power, and he came out and he just delivered in his home city in front of his home crowd.
“It’s just amazing to see. (I was) so happy to see Johnny go out there and do his thing.”
Originally published as ATP Cup 2020: Alex De Minaur v Stefanos Tsitsipas headlines Australia v Greece tie