PARIS: Carlos Alcaraz and Stefanos Tsitsipas have played each other five times, twice last year, both times on clay. Their second meeting was twelve months ago in the quarterfinals in Roland Garros. Alcaraz leads the head-to-head 5-0.
They meet again on Tuesday in the last-eight, the Spaniard, the No. 3 seed, and Tsitsipas the No. 9. After the long-haired Greek rallied to put out Matteo Arnaldi 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-2 in the fourth round, he said he was ready for Alcaraz.
"He has said in the past that he likes playing against me," Tsitsipas said, pointing at the Spaniard's affinity to tee off against the single-hander. "I hope he likes it a little bit less this time. I hope I can get him to that stage of feeling that it's not so comfortable playing against me. That's my goal going into the match."
Alcaraz was in sparkling form against Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime, coming away with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 win with 34 winners. Alcaraz said it was important for him to believe in himself, especially at the business end of the championship.
"It doesn't matter that I don't have too many matches, not have too much rhythm," he said. "I'm getting better and better after every match and every practice.
The key for me is to believe in myself. I've watched a lot of Tsitsipas lately, he's playing great tennis, but let's see, I have the key."
