PARIS: Fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas was made to work hard for more than three hours to book his spot in the French Open second round with a 7-5, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(7) win over Czech Jiri Vesely on Sunday.
The Greek, runner-up in Paris in 2021, did not expect the kind of resistance offered by a player ranked 445th in the world following a lengthy injury absence, and had to save four set points in the fourth to avoid a decider.
“I said to myself that there is no chance this is going to the fifth set. That is what I told myself,” Tsitsipas said. Tsitsipas was broken in his second service game and found himself 5-3 down against Vesely, playing in his first tour-level tournament since last year’s US Open.
But he broke the 29-year-old twice in a row to clinch the next four games and close out the first set.
Tsitsipas had initially struggled with the tall left-hander’s awkward spin but was then stretching his opponent with deep cross-court forehands, bagging the second set with another break of serve.
Sabalenka roars into second round
Aryna Sabalenka took her time to get going but powered into the second round with a comprehensive 6-3, 6-2 win over Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk in a feisty clash.
Sabalenka appeared to be in a spot of bother on serve early on and fell behind 2-3, but the unseeded Kostyuk could not build on her advantage. The Australian Open champion struck back immediately with a powerful crosscourt volley on breakpoint.
RESULTS (SELECTED): First round: Men’s singles: S Tsitsipas bt J Vesely 7-5, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(7); K Khachanov bt C Lestienne 3-6, 1-6, 6-2, 6-1, 6-3; D Goffin lost to H Hurkacz 3-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-2, 4-6; T Kokkinakis bt D Evans 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.
Women’s singles: M Kostyuk lost to A Sabalenka 3-6, 2-6; M Sakkari lost to K Muchova 6-7(5), 5-7; T Zidansek lost to Q Zheng 3-6, 1-6