French Open in Paris

Strong as a bear! Tsitsipas reaches the third round

Stefanos Tsitsipas(Bild: APA/AFP/Valery HACHE)

Stefanos Tsitsipas has impressively underlined his claim to the first Grand Slam title of his career. The Greek played outstanding tennis for a long time against the German Daniel Altmaier and prevailed 6:3, 6:2, 6:7, 6:4 in the second round of the French Open.

Last year, Altmaier had provided a memorable moment when he eliminated Jannik Sinner in a five-set thriller in the second round on Court Suzanne Lenglen. This year, he was completely overrun on the same court. At least at the beginning. 

Tsitsipas broke for 3:1 in the first set and then played his game ice-cold. The Monte Carlo Masters winner's forehand in particular worked with tremendous power and precision. After 13 games, Tsitsipas, who also sparkled with wit in other respects, had already hit 21 winners with it alone. After just 59 minutes, Tsitsipas was already 6:3, 6:2 in front. 

Altmaier shines in the tie-break
But what looked like a quick affair suddenly turned into hard work. Altmaier put up fierce resistance in the third round, the German concentrated on his own service games and played a brilliant tie-break. He won it 7:2 after 55 minutes.

Altmaier took the euphoria with him and managed the break to 4:3 in the fourth set, but Tsitsipas kept his cool, broke back and won 6:4 after 2:43. "I really enjoyed this match, played some great tennis for the most part," said the Greek happily and, when asked about it, said: "It's a good thing I didn't know that Altmaier turned the match against Sinner around here last year."