This week at Roland Garros, nothing is easy for Stefanos Tsitsipas. He had qualified on a knife’s edge against Lorenzo Musetti on Tuesday after being down two rounds to nought. He appeared set for a slightly calmer win against Zdenk Kolár on Thursday on the Suzanne-Lenglen court, having pocketed the first two sets this time. To advance to the third round, the world number three had to battle for four sets, including three tie-breaks (6-3, 7-6, 6-7, 7-6) and more than four hours (4:06).
Kolar was efficient from the backcourt and put Tsitsipas to the test with a variety of slices, drop shots, and lobs, but Tsitsipas’ superior power and expertise eventually won out.
“It was really frustrating”- Stefanos Tsitsipas
Tsitsipas won the first set in 35 minutes in his first meeting with Kolar on Court Suzanne Lenglen, but he was soon forced to play catch-up as the 134th-ranked Czech raced to a 4-1 lead in the second. However, the Greek, who had won the first two sets of the 2021 French Open final before losing to world number one Novak Djokovic, stepped up a gear to square the match before winning the second set in a marathon tiebreaker.
Kolar, 25, maintained in touch with Tsitsipas in the third set and dominated the tiebreaker to force a fourth set. With tremendous support from the crowd, he stayed in touch with the underdog. Kolar was a point away from forcing a fifth set after trading service breaks throughout the game, but he was unable to convert his chances in the tiebreaker. For a spot in the fourth round, Stefanos Tsitsipas will face Sweden’s Mikael Ymer, who is rated 95th.
In his on-court interview, the Greek said, “He drove me crazy. It was really frustrating. He was behind every ball, not easy, not easy. Mr. Kolar didn’t make it easy. Mr Kolar was putting every part of his body behind the ball and I would like to congratulate him on such an incredible effort.”
