The Greek tyro broke his big-serving German opponent 3 times in the Group Andre Agassi match

by AFP/ pic by AFP

LONDON • Stefanos Tsitsipas (picture) coasted past defending champion Alexander Zverev in straight sets to advance to the last four of the ATP Finals on Wednesday after Rafael Nadal came back from the dead to keep his title hopes alive.

The Greek tyro, 21, broke his big-serving German opponent three times in the Group Andre Agassi match to seal a 6-3, 6-2 win at London’s O2 Arena.

The straightforward victory, which took Tsitsipas’ head-to-head record against Zverev to 4-1, was in sharp contrast to the earlier match, in which Nadal produced an astonishing comeback to beat Daniil Medvedev.

The Spanish top seed was on the brink of defeat when facing a match point at 5-1 down in the deciding set, but stormed back to win 6-7 (3/7), 6-3, 7-6 (7/4).

“Today is one of those days that one out of 1,000 you win and it happened today,” said a delighted Nadal yesterday.

The 19-time Grand Slam champion, who also beat Medvedev in the US Open final, said earning a break back in the deciding set had infused him with confidence.

Both players were under intense pressure after losing their opening round-robin matches on Monday.

The second semi-finalist from Group Andre Agassi will be decided today.

Dominic Thiem has already secured one of the qualification spots in Group Bjorn Borg, leaving Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic to scrap it out yesterday for the remaining place from the fourman pool.