Tim – Tsitsipas 1-2: Quali with a surprise for Stefanos in a match for strong nerves

In a nerve-wracking match, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Dominic Thiem gave it their all, with the Greek tennis player winning sets 2-1 and qualifying for the third round of the Madrid Open.

The Austrian (No. 93) took the first set, but then Stefanos Tsitsipas turned it up and managed to serve and qualify. In the next round he meets Sebastian Baez (No. 31).

The match: Thiem showed that he had a good night from the first set and only managed a break to lead 3-1 in Tsitsipas’ second service game. Steph tried to react immediately, he had a triple break point but the Austrian held serve.

Thiem was solid after that, he was solid behind serve unlike Tsitsipas and he made it easy for the 1-0 set 6-3.

The second set was a different matter altogether. Tsitsipas managed a 3-0 lead with a quick break. Unlike in the first set, Tim looked for an opportunity to react but had none.

Stefanos Tsitsipas managed a second break a little later and then managed to close the set 6-1, losing just ten points to Tim in the set.

The third set was completely different. Tsitsipas was the one who pressed and looked for the break, but he didn’t succeed. Tim held his ground in the third as well as in the eleventh game and thus the tennis players were led into the tie-break.

There, despite his slow start, Tsitsipas managed to quickly regain lost ground to finish the set 7-6 (5).