Roger Federer vs Stefanos Tsitsipas result: Defending champion knocked out of 2019 Australian Open

At the end Stefanos Tsitsipas dropped his racket to the floor and stood shaking his head in disbelief. The 20-year-old Greek has been considered one of the game’s most exciting prospects for some time now and underlined it in spectacular style here at the Australian Open on Sunday by beating Roger Federer, his childhood hero.

“My idol today became pretty much my rival,” Tsitsipas said afterwards, explaining that he had experienced “pure happiness” at the moment of his stunning 6-7, 7-6, 7-5, 7-6 victory.

Tsitsipas, who had idolised Federer from the age of six, added: “It was a very emotional moment. It felt the beginning of something really big. I felt joy. I felt happiness. I felt a huge relief going out of my shoulders.That moment is definitely something that I will never, ever, ever forget. This match point is going to stay with me, I'm pretty much sure, forever, for the rest of my life.

Tsitsipas, who will face Roberto Bautista Agut in the quarter-finals after the Spaniard beat Marin Cilic, 6-7, 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4, won by playing attacking tennis from start. The world No 15 took the game to Federer, charging into the net and volleying with the sort of confidence and authority that we have long associated with his opponent.

The Greek served superbly, hitting 20 aces to his opponent’s 12. Federer had 12 break points but did not take any of them. Tsitsipas, who said he had always believed he could win, had only three break points but converted one of them and played most of the big points superbly.

In their only previous meeting two weeks ago Federer had won in straight sets at the Hopman Cup, but on that occasion, too, he failed to break the Tsitsipas serve.

“Clearly something is wrong how I return against him,” Federer admitted afterwards. “I lost tonight to a better player who was playing very well. He hung in there, gave himself chances at some point, and stayed calm. It's not always easy, especially for younger guys. Credit to him for taking care of that.”

Federer, who had not lost a match at Melbourne Park since his semi-final defeat to Novak Djokovic in 2016, said he had “massive regrets” and felt that his failure to win the second set, in which he had four set points, had been crucial.

However, the Swiss was pleased to be leaving the tournament feeling physically good and happy with his level of play. He also revealed that he intends to compete at the French Open this summer for the first time since 2015. He will play in Dubai next month, in Indian Wells in March, perhaps in Miami and then at one clay-court tournament in the build-up to Roland-Garros.

Tsitsipas is the first Greek singles player to reach the quarter-finals at any Grand Slam tournament. His success here follows his breakthrough year in 2018, when he won his first title, reached a Masters Series final in Toronto and won the NextGen ATP Finals in Milan.

The Greek is based at Patrick Mouratoglou’s academy in the south of France. His success here has echoes of the breakthrough made in this tournament 13 years ago by the Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis, who reached the final before losing to Federer. Baghdatis was coached by Mouratoglou, who was in Tsitsipas’ player box here.

It also bore comparisons with the fourth-round match at Wimbledon in 2001 when Federer beat his own childhood idol, Pete Sampras. Tsitsipas said he had watched a video of that match at Wimbledon last summer and had prepared for this encounter here by watching videos of players with similar styles to his own who had beaten Federer on hard courts in the past.

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Federer, meanwhile, had been hoping, at the age of 37 years and 172 days, to become the oldest man to reach the quarter-finals in 41 years and the first to win the title seven times.

John McEnroe said after his on-court interview with Tsitsipas that the result represented a changing of the guard. Asked if he agreed, Federer said: “He’s in front of the mic a lot and he’s always going to say stuff. I love John, but I’ve heard that story for the last 10 years.”

When the same point was put to Tsitsipas the Greek insisted: “I still have to keep my focus, keep my concentration on further goals that I want to achieve. That's a very good beginning. I need to stay humble.This win is a good milestone, let's say a good first step, to something bigger. I do feel like my game is pretty good at the moment. I feel confident.”

Federer usually has the support of neutral crowds, but on this occasion it was the Tsitsipas fans who made their voices heard. Melbourne has the largest population of people of Greek origin outside their home country and a fair proportion of them got their hands on tickets for Sunday’s evening session. There was almost as much noise around the grounds of Melbourne Park as fans watched the match on big screens.

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Tsitsipas was handed two code violations for taking too long between points in the very first game, in which he also had to save two break points. He stood firm, however, and went on to have chances in the opening tie-break, which Federer won 13-11.

Federer’s big chance to take a firm grip on the match came when Tsitsipas served at 4-5 in the second set. The world No 3 had four set points but Tsitsipas defended them superbly and went on to take the last four points of the second tie-break, winning it 7-3.

Another tie-break loomed in the third set, but at 5-6 Federer shook his head in frustration after going break point down when he missed a forehand. Another forehand error on the next point saw Tsitsipas level the match.Federer led 4-3 in the tie-break at the end of the fourth set, but Tsitsipas won four of the last five points to claim victory after three hours and 45 minutes.

Federer was asked afterwards if he saw similarities between himself and Tsitsipas. “He has a one-handed backhand and I used to have long hair too, so maybe a little bit,” the Swiss said. “He has more of a continental grip than players nowadays so that's a bit more my way than, let's say, Rafa's way.”

Tsitsipas has never played Bautista Agut, whose win over Cilic, last year’s runner-up to Federer, was the Spaniard’s third five-set victory of the tournament following his wins over Andy Murray in the first round and John Millman in the second. Cilic also played a five-set match in the last round and was suffering with a recurring knee problem.

This was the tenth time in Bautista Agut’s career that he had reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament but this will be his first quarter-final at this level.