Greek 10th seed Stefanos Tsitsipas fought past Spanish lucky loser Roberto Carballes Baena 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the first round of the Rolex Paris Masters on Monday.
Tsitsipas needed an hour and 59 minutes, but when it was said and done the 26-year-old secured the 100th match win at an ATP Masters 1000 event of his career. Tsitsipas said he battled an upset stomach during the match.
“It took a long time for me to feel better,” Tsitsipas said.
“It was very strange. It doesn’t happen very often. I just had to feel better, because I knew I was playing good tennis. I didn’t have a great start, but there were so many things on my mind at that moment, I wasn’t able to play clearly and with a good picture.”
Tsitsipas finished with an 11-4 edge in aces and a whopping 36-15 advantage in total winners, but he had to overcome 45 unforced errors while Carballes Baena committed only 21.
Tsitsipas also won 36 of his 45 first-service points (80 percent) and saved 4 of 6 break points.
Tsitsipas’ next opponent will be Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo, who outlasted Portugal’s Nuno Borges 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3 in two hours and 10 minutes.
A trio of Frenchmen won on home soil in the opening round. Wild card Adrian Mannarino upset No. 11 seed Tommy Paul 6-3, 7-5. He reached break point 11 times and managed to break Paul’s serve on five occasions.
“I don’t know if it’s the fact of playing in Paris or of fully finding my form after a lot of physical problems,” Mannarino told reporters in French, per tennismajors.com.
“The level of play (Monday) was good. Managing to finish the match, when there are many that have passed me by in the same kind of circumstances, it’s really satisfying.”
No. 15 seed Ugo Humbert also pleased the French fans with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 victory over Brandon Nakashima. And wild card Arthur Rinderknech advanced when Czech opponent Tomas Machac retired during the second set of their match.
Stefanos Tsitsipas loses in Japan Open first round
Machac won the first set 7-6 (3) and was trailing 3-5 in the second.
Serbian lucky loser Miomir Kecmanovic went the distance against Argentina’s Sebastian Baez, prevailing 6-4, 6-7 (6), 7-5 in two hours and 28 minutes.
Advancing in straight sets were Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan, American qualifier Marcos Giron, Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands, Nicolas Jarry of Chile, Jordan Thompson of Australia and Argentines Francisco Cerundolo and Tomas Martin Etcheverry.
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