Souvlaki honour for Open's Greek gun

A Melbourne restaurant says it will name a souvlaki after Stefanos Tsitsipas if the Greek gun is successful in his third-round match on Friday.

Stefanos Tsitsipas gestures.

Stefanos Tsitsipas has Melbourne's Greek diaspora firmly in his corner. (AAP)

Greek gun Stefanos Tsitsipas is set to follow in the footsteps of Marcos Baghdatis and have a a souvlaki named in his honour for his Australian Open deeds.

The 20-year-old recently named Stalactites in Melbourne's CBD as one of his favourite restaurants.

And Stalactites has returned the love, saying Tsitsipas's name will be added to the menu if he can find a way past Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili in the third round on Friday.

The restaurant has only bestowed the honour once before - naming a slow-cooked lamb souvlaki after Greek Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis during his fairytale run to the 2006 Australian Open final.

"Stefanos is a massive sensation and if he does well, we'd love to name a souvlaki after him," Stalactites managing director Nicole Papasavas told AAP.

"Everyone likes their souvlaki a little bit different so we'd ask him what he likes and tailor it to his tastes."

Tsitsipas - Greece's highest-ever ranked player - has drawn passionate support from blue-and-white-clad fans at Melbourne Park, alongside compatriot Maria Sakkari, who also has a third-round match on Friday against Ashleigh Barty.

The duo both played on Court 3 on Wednesday, with hundreds of fans in attendance.

"Having the Greek community is really important, you saw it with Marcos - the best tournament of his life was here and I'm pretty sure it's all because of the energy of the people and the Greek community in Melbourne," 14th-seed Tsitsipas said.


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Source: AAP



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