3 things that stood out in Alex Molcan's win over Stefanos Tsitsipas in Davis Cup

Alex Molcan of Slovakia beat Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece 7-6 4-6 6-3 in a Davis Cup match in World Group I in Greece on Sunday, September 17.

It was a big upset in favour of the 25-year-old Slovak, who has slipped out of the top 100 in the world in 2023 against Tsitsipas, the current World No. 5. Slovakia went on to win the tie 3-1.

Tsitsipas thus continued his underwhelming run this year and remains quite prone to suffer shock defeats at the hands of lower-ranked players.

On that note, let us take a look at three things that stood out in the match:

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#1. Tsitsipas kept targeting Molcan’s backhand

Molcan was a bad match-up for Tsitsipas, as the left-handed Slovak’s crosscourt forehand was directed at the Greek’s backhand, which was not his strength. Hence, Tsitsipas started directing more traffic towards Molcan’s backhand that prompted the latter to play crosscourt shots off it.

Molcan refrained from using his down-the-line backhand, as it was a high-risk shot and there was a chance of the shot going out of the court. It allowed Tsitsipas to take the ball with his forehand most of the times to keep imposing himself. Still, the Slovak used his backhand drop shots quite effectively in the set.

Molcan broke Tsitsipas in the seventh game, but the Greek then broke back to level the score. The set went into a tie-break that the Slovak was able to win.

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#2. Molcan started playing the down-the-line backhand more often from the 2nd set onwards

Molcan started taking the risk of playing his down-the-line backhand more often from the second set onwards, which forced the Greek to play more often off his backhand. Still, Tsitsipas kept going around his backhand to play inside-out and inside-in forehand to put pressure on the Slovak.

Tsitsipas was able to exert his dominance with his powerful serve and forehand and used the one-two combination to keep winning points. He broke Molcan once to win the second set and thereby draw level.

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#3. Molcan stopped providing the Greek with short balls in the 3rd set

Molcan started playing his shots deeper in the third set to rob the Greek of the opportunity to dispatch them for winners with his forehand. He also started playing his crosscourt forehand with more power to not give the Greek the chance to go around his backhand often.

The above tactics helped Molcan dominate most of the rallies in the third set and he was able to get the decisive break to finish the match off.