Tsitsipas Progresses to Second Round of Australian Open with Show of Fighting Spirit

- World Soccer Today -

Stefanos Tsitsipas moved on to the next round of the Australian Open with a fifth consecutive victory this year.

Stefanos Tsitsipas, ranked third in the tournament, attributed his success in the Australian Open to his fighting spirit, as he aims to win his first Grand Slam title. He defeated Frenchman Quentin Halys in three sets, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (8/6) at Margaret Court Arena. He will face either German qualifier Yannick Hanfmann or Australian wildcard Rinky Hijikata in the next round. In 2022, Tsitsipas led the ATP Tour in most matches won (61) and reached seven finals, winning two of them. He has continued this strong performance into 2023, winning all five matches this season after going 4-0 at the United Cup for Greece. Despite some difficulty in the third set, Tsitsipas was able to come back from being 2-0 down in the tiebreak to secure the win.

Tsitsipas acknowledged that the match was challenging and that his opponent played well in the third set, causing him to lose his rhythm on serve and get broken twice in a row. However, he credited his fighting spirit for helping him to overcome the difficult situation and not give up. He noted that although he had a successful run at the Australian Open in 2019, where he defeated the defending champion Roger Federer, he has yet to win a Grand Slam title, with his best result being a runner-up finish at Roland Garros in 2021. Despite this, Tsitsipas has consistently been a top-10 player for almost four years and reached the semi-finals at the Australian Open in 2019, 2021 and 2022.