Third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas begins his Olympic campaign in style and becomes the first Greek man to win an Olympic singles match in 97 years. Tsitsipas beat German veteran Philipp Kohlschreiber in three sets 6-3,3-6,6-3 in the first round of Tokyo 2020 on centre court.
Tsitsipas showcased his class in the clay season this year and was the most successful player with 2 titles in his name. He also reached the final of Roland Garros where he lost to Novak Djokovic. But he bowed out of the very first round of Wimbledon, making this first round win even more special.
In the match, Tsitsipas started on a strong note and kept his first serve in place. He was standing deep in the baseline and was hitting decent groundstrokes to open up the court. He got the decisive break and took the opening set 6-3.
Kohlschreiber too used his experience to bounce back in the second set. He has been in good form off late and was hitting the corners very well in the second set. He was tight on serve and managed to sneak in with a break to take the set 6-3.
Both the players started on a positive note in the third set but clearly Tsitsipas had better legs. The Greek looked more focused and was hitting the right shots at the right time. He finally got a much needed break and stormed away with the set 6-3. This was his maiden Olympic win.
Tsitsipas will now face Frances Tiafoe, the man who knocked him out of Wimbledon earlier this month, in the second round.
Also read: Tennis at Tokyo Olympics: Naomi Osaka begins her campaign with a win, beats Saisai Zheng
