Tennis - Australian Open - Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia - January 19, 2024 Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas in action during his third round match against France's Luca Van Assche REUTERS/Tracey Nearmy
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Stefanos Tsitsipas hopes to tap into "big moments" from his 2023 Australian Open campaign to fuel his quest to reach back-to-back finals, the Greek seventh seed said after easing past Frenchman Luca Van Assche to reach the fourth round on Friday.
The 25-year-old fell to 10-times champion Novak Djokovic in the title clash last year, but not before winning an epic five-setter in the fourth round against young gun Jannik Sinner and impressive displays against Jiri Lehecka and Karen Khachanov.
Tsitsipas, who eased past Frenchman Van Assche 6-3 6-0 6-4 and takes on American 12th seed Taylor Fritz next, said he would use the emotions he felt last year to mentally prepare for the challenges that lie ahead.
"I approach these situations and these experiences with a lot of humility and I'm always trying to get them better. What I mean by that is make them more emotional and create a bigger glory mentally in my mind," Tsitsipas told reporters.
"These moments are glorious, especially when you're able to overcome them and win matches to go to the next sort of level of yourself as a tennis player and they count a lot for me."
Tsitsipas said that finding comfort and confidence were key to his rhythm in matches.
"I'm trying to feel the match," Tsitsipas said. "I'm trying to feel the ball that's coming to me and become, in a way, one with it and that helps me get to that point most of the time."
Tsitsipas beat Fritz when the pair met at the same stage of the Australian Open in 2022 and holds a 3-1 win-loss record over the American.
"I've played him before at the Australian Open. We had a big match," Tsitsipas said. "These moments are some of the ones that I do remember the best from this particular tournament.
"The intensity that I brought with me at that particular match was impressive and I'm hoping to replicate it and give it my best shot against him."
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Melbourne; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
