TOKYO: Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas slid to a 2-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-2 defeat to Frenchman Ugo Humbert in the third round of the Tokyo Olympics tennis Wednesday.
Third seed Tsitsipas required a medical timeout for an injury to his right leg at the end of the second set.
He appeared in control after breaking twice to take the first set but the 28th-ranked Humbert edged a tie-break to force a third set.
Humbert then surged a double break in front at 5-1 and converted his fourth match point to book a quarter-final with Russia’s Karen Khachanov.
Fourth seed Tsitsipas had been one of the favourites for the gold medal after a stellar year to date, reaching his first Grand Slam final at Roland-Garros.
But the Greek knew Humbert would be a true test, having lost to the left-hander in their only previous meeting in Bercy at the end of 2020, a match that saw three tiebreaks.
Humbert’s reward is a quarter-final with Khachanov, who won a see-saw battle with Schwartzman to take his place in the last eight.
If Stefanos can play despite the injury, he and Maria will start the doubles mixed match not before 5:30 PM (local time) / 11:30 AM EEST (Greece) / 10:30 AM CEST (Madrid) / 9:30 AM BST (London).
