Vienna, Austria (The Hawk): The fifth-ranked player in the world, Stefanos Tsitsipas, defeated home favourite Dennis Novak in the opening round of the Vienna Open on Wednesday.
In a 7-6(2), 6-2 triumph over Novak, the second-seeded Greek immediately recovered a break at the set's midpoint in the opening set. After two consecutive love holds, Tsitsipas's serve was broken as he went behind 3-4.
He then blew a 0/40 opportunity in the next game before converting his fourth break opportunity and never looking back, dominating the second set to move to the second round for the third consecutive year in the capital of Austria.
The result sets up a rematch of the Cincinnati championship match, which he lost against Borna Coric. On Monday, the Croatian won in three sets against the Frenchman Quentin Halys.
Tsitsipas leads the ATP Tour with 57 match wins and is tied for the lead (with Carlos Alcaraz) with seven finals, including runs to the championship match in Astana and Stockholm during the past two weeks.
The 24-year-old is currently third in the ATP Live Race To Turin and has already secured his fourth consecutive trip to the Nitto ATP Finals, a tournament he won in his 2019 debut.
Jannik Sinner, the sixth seed, also advanced on Wednesday with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Cristian Garin. This season, the Italian improved to 27-8 on hard courts, with advances to the quarterfinals at the Australian Open and US Open.
In an effort to improve his performance in the 2021 Vienna semifinals, Sinner will face Francisco Cerundolo next. Sinner, who is fifteenth in the Race and behind seventh-placed Felix Auger-Aliassime by roughly 900 points, will likely need to win both Vienna and Paris to qualify for Turin.
(Inputs from Agencies)
