“I refuse to give up”- Stefanos Tsitsipas digs deep to fend off an incredible Lorenzo Musetti
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Stefanos Tsitsipas
Last year’s runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas advanced to the second round of the French Open after defeating Italian Lorenzo Musetti 5-7 4-6 6-2 6-3 6-2 on Tuesday. The fourth-seeded Greek struggled in the opening two sets before finding his stride and advancing to a match against Czech Zdenek Kolar.
Musetti last year took the first two sets against Novak Djokovic in the last 16 before injury forced the Italian to retire.
“I’m going to keep working hard”- Stefanos Tsitsipas
Musetti broke Tsitsipas in the 11th game of the first set on Tuesday, taking a 6-5 lead after an unforced error. As his opponent slammed a backhand into the net, the Italian followed up on serve and gained a one-set lead. Musetti maintained his lead in the second set, surging to a 4-0 lead as Tsitsipas continued to struggle. But the Greek found his range and pulled a break-back to stop the bleeding.
Lorenzo Musetti served for the set at 5-4, and after a double fault, he was up two sets to none when Stefanos Tsitsipas produced yet another unforced error. In the third set, Tsitsipas raced to a 3-0 lead and held on to cut the deficit to one set. In the fourth set, the Greek went ahead 2-0 and survived a breakpoint in the third game to extend his lead, but Musetti broke back with a forehand winner.
Tsitsipas, on the other hand, took advantage of his opponent’s nervousness to break and move ahead 4-2 before tying the match. Tsitsipas was businesslike as he wrapped up the match late at night to extend his stay in Paris in the bottom half of the draw, where he won’t have to face either defending champion Novak Djokovic or 13-time winner Rafael Nadal.
“I refuse to give up,” Stefanos Tsitsipas said in his on-court interview. “That’s simply how it works with me. You never really think about getting back after being two sets to love. You just play it point after point. You just wish that your efforts will pay off on. It’s a mountain that you have to climb”.
He added, “It was a great first round. I’m going to keep working hard to improve and build a relationship with the crowd here.”
Also Read: REVEALED! Stefanos Tsitsipas’ Path to Claim his First French Open title
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Pritha Ghosh
(414 Articles Published)