
By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Saturday January 11, 2025
20-year-old American Alex Michelsen is going places. Two-time Grand Slam Stefanos Tsitipas is stuck in neutral - at least for the time being.
The 42nd-ranked American took out Tsitsipas in four sets on Day 2 in Melbourne, earning his first Top-20 win at a major and denying the Greek a seventh consecutive trip to the second round.
26-year-old Tsitsipas, a finalist in Melbourne in 2023, has now lost three of his last four matches at the majors, and he drops to 0-2 lifetime against Michelsen, who also defeated him in Tokyo last year.
"I had a very slow start to the match. In terms of finding my movements and just dominating from the serve plus one, it wasn't really the way I'm expecting it to work," Tsitsipas said. "That led to some frustration and, let's say, insecurity in terms of approaching my game. You know, these are important shots in tennis, and if you are not able to deliver them at your highest intensity, that's really difficult."
Michelsen cracked 43 winners across his 7-5 6-3 2-6 6-4 victory, which lasted two hours and 43 minutes.
The Southern California native jumped out to a two sets to love lead but had to scratch and claw to avoid a fifth set as Tsitsipas took the third and threatened to win a topsy turvy fourth set that featured four consecutive breaks of serve. Michelsen finished off his win by breaking for 5-4 (on an ill-time Tsitsipas double-fault) before serving out his victory.
He will face Spaniard Martin Landaluce or Australian wild card James McCabe next.