Stefanos Tsitsipas Faces Crucial Match Against Botic van de Zandschulp at ATP Basel

Stefanos Tsitsipas, the third seed at the ATP Swiss Indoors in Basel, is set to face a critical challenge in his second-round match against Botic van de Zandschulp on Thursday. This encounter is pivotal for Tsitsipas, who is striving to maintain his chances of qualifying for the ATP Finals in Turin. Despite being ranked outside the top 10 currently, Tsitsipas has never missed the ATP Finals in the last five seasons, but this year’s competition is fiercer with new contenders emerging.

Tsitsipas recently survived a scare in his first-round match against Francisco Cerundolo, winning in three sets with a score of 6-3, 6-7(3), 7-6(4). This victory kept his slim hopes of making the ATP Finals alive, but he needs a deep run in Basel to stay in contention. Tsitsipas has a strong record on indoor hard courts, with a 92-50 win-loss record on this surface over the years and a 4-1 record in 2024.

Botic van de Zandschulp, on the other hand, has shown significant form this week in Basel. Despite a mixed season following his surprise win over Carlos Alcaraz at the US Open, van de Zandschulp has been playing with renewed self-belief. He qualified for the main draw and then defeated Alexander Bublik in the first round, although Bublik retired in the third set down 4-0.

The head-to-head between the two players favors Tsitsipas, who won their only previous meeting in Antwerp last year with a score of 7-5, 6-3. However, some predictions suggest that van de Zandschulp could pull off an upset, given Tsitsipas’s recent lack of form and van de Zandschulp’s current confidence.

The match is scheduled to take place on Thursday at 2:00 pm on the Center Court in Basel, with Tsitsipas favored to win in two sets according to most predictions.