Greek tennis player Tsitsipas seeks finalist berth in Rotterdam tournament

Havana, February 12 (RHC)-- Greek tennis player Stefanos, top seed, will seek a place in the final of the Rotterdam tournament today against Czech Jiri Lehecka.

Tsitsipas, fourth in the world ranking and runner-up at Roland Garros 2021, advanced to the semifinals on Friday with a win against Australian Álex De Miñaur by a double 6-4.

The Hellenic native returned to competition this week after reaching the top four round in late January at the Australian Open.

Lehecka, meanwhile, edged Italy's Lorenzo Musetti 6-3, 1-6, 7-5, and will play his first semifinal on the Association of Tennis Professionals circuit.

"He's on a winning streak. He's a young talent, who can play very good tennis. I will have to be prepared because it's never easy to face a player for the first time. The preparation for that match is going to be very important," said Tsitsipas, who last year lost in the penultimate round in Rotterdam.

Defending champion and second-seeded Russian Andrey Rublev and sixth-seeded Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime were scheduled for the other semifinal match, with their Friday successes over Hungary's Marton Fucsovics and Britain's Cameron Norrie, respectively.

Rublev won 6-4, 6-3 in an hour and a quarter against Fucsovics whom he had already beaten on four of the five previous occasions. Only at Wimbledon last year did the Magyar triumph, who could not find a way to cope with the seventh-ranked player.

Auger-Aliassime, who is looking for the first title of his career, defeated Norrie 7-5, 7-6 (7/4) after two hours and seven minutes.

Quarter-finalist at the Australian Open, the Montreal tennis player has never beaten Rublev with whom he lost in Adelaide in 2020 and in Umag (Croatia), in 2018.

The Rotterdam event is played indoors on hard surface and awards points for the professional ranking.