January 20, 2019 -- Melbourne, Australia
Facing the hard working, feisty Greek player, Stefanos Tsitsipas for the second time this month, Roger was challenged in his Round of 16 match in front of an electric Aussie crowd.
Tsitsipas played without any fear and seemed to have an answer for anything the Swiss Star threw at him. The Next Gen player defeated the defending champion 6-7(13), 7-6(3), 7-5, 7-6(5). Roger just couldn't find a way to break and went 0-12 on break points.
Despite taking the loss and breaking a 17-match win streak at the Australian Open, Roger had only the best to say about the up and coming player, “He’s done a really nice job, the last year and a half – before that, too. Beating Novak [Djokovic] in Toronto, the likes of [Kevin] Anderson and [Alexander] Zverev, now me here: that’s what you need to do to get to the next level. He’s doing that. I see him definitely being high up in the game for a long time. That was a good night for him tonight.”
Next up for Roger will be the Dubai Championships at the end of February.