João Domingues: “I’ve had too many chances and I didn’t took advantage, I’m upset”

Portuguese number three was noticeably disappointed in the end of the match against Stefanos Tsitsipas.

João Domingues has achieved the best result of his entire career, but that wasn’t enough to make him satisfied. “I’ve had too many chances and didn’t took advantage, and that upsets me”, said the portuguese, explaining that the moment when he was serving for the first set was the turning point of the match. “While 5-4 and 30-0 ahead, I missed an easy shot. He has the merit, but I had the match in my hands”.

Despite that, the player from Oliveira de Azeméis made a positive assessment of his participation at Millennium Estoril Open. “I’m happy with my level of play, because I’m being capable of applying what I do while I’m training. I have 70% of good things, but I aim for more”, said Domingues, reminding the fine line between top 200 and top 100 or 50, because “the level of the Challenger tour is really competitive”.

And for those who gave him support in this path: “The crowd in incredible to me and I’ve heard a lot of comments that made me laugh. I also want to thank the organization for the wild card, without them I wouldn’t even be here. Play in my own country is without a doubt special”.

Approximately two hours later, was Stefanos Tsitsipas’s turn at  the conference room. The first seed considered the match to be “really tough”, but he wasn’t surprised at all. “I was expecting a tough match. I knew I was going to make it hard for me on court. I didn’t start quite well, I got broken too early, but my biggest experience against top players ended up making all the difference”, highlighted the world number ten.

This was the third fight between them and Tsitsipas talks about an improvement in João Domingues’s level of play. “I think he has improved a lot since we’ve played for the first time. He is running a lot, he is a good returner, he has a good serve and knows how to place it correctly even though it’s not the best serve in the tour. He is a different player. If he keeps working hard, with this mentality, he can get better and we probably will see some great results in the future”.

Stefanos Tsitsipas will now face David Goffin in the first semi-final of this Saturday, not before 3 pm local time.