Madrid (Spain) – After winning two qualifying games to qualify for the main draw of the Masters 1000 in Madrid and advance in his debut, Thiago Monteiro from Ceará played a great game and beat the number 7 in the world, the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, in a double 6/4 , in 1h36 of play to guarantee himself in the third round of the tournament for the first time in his career.
“I am very happy and proud with today’s victory. The pace of the game and the conditions in Madrid favor me. I had to believe at all times that I was capable and that I had the game to go head to head with a player like Stefanos. I tried to play loose and have fun on the court, and I’m also coming from victories in qualifying and in my debut, so I used that confidence”, said the Ceará native.
“I think I managed to impose myself very well and the serve worked fantastically well too. I was always able to build good opportunities and always stay aggressive. Definitely one of the biggest victories of my career. I knew it was a very difficult match and I tried to believe in myself the whole time”, said Monteiro, who for the fourth time in his career defeated a top 10 player.
Quadrifinalist at the Rio Open, the Ceará native was unable to achieve good results in the tournaments he played subsequently, accumulating defeats against very low ranking rivals. He lost to Jaime Faria (255th) in Oeiras, Orlando Luz (355th) in Florianópolis and São Leopoldo and Adam Walton (150th) in the Miami Masters 1000 qualifier.
“Tennis is like that, it’s a new opportunity every week. I wasn’t having good results in the challengers and I wasn’t feeling good on the court either, but I continued working with my team and trying to improve the things that weren’t working and, most importantly, believing in my game”, observed Monteiro.
“This week, without a doubt, has everything to be a turning point and this victory was certainly one of the biggest of my career. Knowing that on a good day we can play on equal terms with these players gives me a lot of confidence”, added the current 118th in the world, who with the campaign in Madrid is provisionally rising to 106th place in the rankings.
Monteiro was the first tennis player outside the top 100 to defeat Tsitsipas on a clay court in ATP tournaments. In the next round, the left-hander from Ceará will face the Czech Jiri Lehecka, number 31 in the world. They faced each other twice, with Monteiro losing on clay in Kitzbuhel (2022) and on hard court in Auckland (2023).
“I was punished every time I played short”, analyzes Tsitsipas
