WASHINGTON (AFP) - Olympic gold medallist Alexander Zverev and French Open runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas slumped to shock quarterfinal exits in the ATP Indian Wells Masters, losing in three sets at the main stadium.
American Taylor Fritz survived two match points to come from behind and eliminate third seeded Zverev 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/3) while second seeded Tsitsipas was shown the door 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 shortly after by world number 36 Nikoloz Basilashvili.
The exits of Zverev and Tsitsipas means Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie, who is seeded 21st, is the top seed left in the final four.
The semi-finals are now set with 31st seeded Fritz facing Basilashvili and Norrie going up against 23rd seeded Grigor Dimitrov for a spot in Sunday’s championship match at the Tennis Garden in the California desert.
Germany’s Zverev jumped out to a big lead in the final set and appeared to be heading to victory before he started to struggle mightily on his second serve.
“This one hurts because I knew that after Stefanos lost this morning, I was kind of the favorite to win this tournament,” said Zverev. “But my tennis wasn’t there.”
He blasted a 135 mph ace to get to match point but then immediately double faulted and Fritz won the next point to take the game and cut the lead to 5-4.
Crowd favorite Fritz dominated the third-set tiebreaker clinching the match with a cross court forehand winner.
“I put myself in a situation to get back into it and I did,” said Fritz, of San Diego. “I just kept fighting and went after my shots and kept playing my game.”
This was just the second loss for Zverev since losing in the fourth round at Wimbledon. Zverev is 20-2 over that stretch.
Tsitsipas also fell in three sets to the 29th seeded Basilashvili, who recorded one of his biggest career wins.