Australian Open: Tsitsipas wins four set battle to enter Round-3
Jan 20, 2022
Melbourne [Australia], January 20 : World no. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas beat Sebastian Baez of Argentina 7-6 (7-1), 6-7 (7-5), 6-3. 6-4 in a hard fought 2nd round match of the men's singles which lasted for three hours and 22 minutes to enter the third round here at Margaret Court Arena.
World No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas faced tough fight from the Argentine Sebastian Baez from the opening set itself taking it to the tie-breaker where the Greek held his nerve to win it 7-6 (7-1) and take a one set lead. There was not much of a difference between the two in the set as the man from Greece hit four aces in comparison to his opponent who went on to hit 3. In terms of winners too Tsitsipas lead by a slight margin of 11-9.
Baez was not the one to give up without a fight and he once again drew the French Open 2021 finalist to a tie-breaker. Unlike the first set this time the tie-breaker was not a one-sided affair as the Argentine turned it around 7-6 (7-5) to make it one set a piece. In the second set Sebastian Baez went on to hit 14 winners in comparison to Stefanos who hit 12. But it was the number of unforced errors that proved to be costly for the Greek. Stefanos Tsitsipas conceded 14 unforced errors in comparison to Baez who conceded only eight.
The match did not look an easy one for the world no.4 but in the third set he served well as well as returned well too hitting two aces and a first serve win percentage of 86 to win the third set 6-3. The Greek also hit 11 winners in comparison to six winners from Sebastian Baez.
From there on there was no looking back for world no.4 Greek as he struck three aces and ten winners with a first serve win percentage of 93 to win the fourth set 6-4 as well as the match. With this win Stefanos Tsitsipas entered the third round in men's singles of the Australian Open.
