Tsitsipas fought Nardi but reached the quarterfinals of the Astana Open

Stefanos Tsitsipas (No. 6) scored his second straight win at the very strong 500 tournament in Astana and reached the quarterfinals of the event where he is waiting to learn his next opponent from the match between Hubert Hurkatz and Alexander Bublik.

The Greek champions needed two demanding tie-breaks to overcome resistance from the inspired 19-year-old Italian Luca Nardi (No. 152) and qualify for the ‘8’-best of the Astana Open.

After an hour and 47 minutes of action, the No. 3 on the board edged out the qualifier and world No. 152 7-6(2), 7-6(3) to earn his 51st win of the season.

He served 10 aces, kept his serve intact throughout the game, and despite not even managing a break point, drove to a hard-fought win.

Nardi played a great match and didn’t let Tsitsipas become a threat from receiver position, despite everything the Greek tennis player was calmer in the two required tie-breaks, with his experience playing a crucial role to come off the court ‘unharmed’.

With 58/73 points won behind serve, the world No. 6 finished the match, winning a total of 81 points in the match compared to the Italian’s 67.

However, Nardi was the one who had the two unique opportunities to break the match.

At 5-5 in the second set, he was leading 30-40, while moments later he also had an advantage (40-A) and ultimately failed to capitalize on either of the two break points he created for himself.

Up to this point, in 22 games played, there was no opportunity for a break, because Tsitsipas never (!) scored more than two points on Nardi’s serve.

However, the two tiebreaks Stefanos played were flawless. He won a total of 14 of the 19 points played, showed his class in crucial moments, played tennis at a very high level, varied his shots and made the most of the excellent day he had at net.