Tsitsipas overcomes a rough start and quickens his pace over Fucsovic’s Greek to face Altmaier in the second round of Roland Garros.
After overcoming a challenging first set, Stefanos Tsitsipas cruised to an easy first-round victory on Monday at Roland Garros.
The ninth-seeded Greek defeated Marton Fucsovics 7-6 (7), 6-4, 6-1 after surviving a set point in the first set. In his second Lexus ATP Head2Head match against Fucsovics, Tsitsipas looked calm after winning the opening-set tiebreak. He then used power in his groundstrokes off both wings to win in two hours and twenty minutes at the Court Suzanne-Lenglen.
“It was quite difficult at first,” Tsitsipas remarked during his on-court interview. He exuded confidence when he arrived, and I could see it in his tennis. Dealing with that at the beginning was difficult, but I managed to get back into the match by saving a set point.
Similar to Tsitsipas, the winner of the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, Fucsovics has already won an ATP Tour trophy on clay this year. The No. 9 in the PIF ATP Rankings also seemed determined to play aggressive tennis, but the Bucharest champion came out swinging from the baseline and attempted to rush Tsitsipas. Following his set-point loss at 7/6 in the first tiebreak, Fucsovics was nearly flawless in everything he did.
Tsitsipas said, “To obtain that first set was such an important moment.” With these kinds of things, you never know. I felt somewhat fortunate to win the opening set because you want to just take the lead right away. I carried over that assurance into the second.
“I felt like I started to acquire match momentum after winning the first set, and my strokes were suddenly deeper and much more explosive than before. The most important thing about the contest was winning that opening set. I felt pretty comfortable with my shots, and I played some amazing tennis toward the end. Whatever strategy I attempted to use, it worked beautifully.
Tsitsipas, a finalist at the 2021 clay-court major, will play Daniel Altmaier of Germany in the second round in Paris. With his current record of 14-3 on clay at the tour level, the 25-year-old has won the Monte-Carlo trophy three times.
