Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas was tested against Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina but ultimately prevailed in a marathon match Tuesday, winning 7-5, 6-7 (1), 6-4 to advance to the Round of 16 at the ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
The match lasted over two and a half hours, even though Tsitsipas, ranked No. 4 in the world, won on aces 15-0. Fokina was helped by three Tsitsipas double faults and a better performance at the net, converting on 63 percent of his net-point opportunities.
In other action, No. 2 seed Andrey Rublev of Russia dispatched Henri Laaksonen of Sweden 6-4, 6-4, Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic upset No. 5 Denis Shapovalov of Canada 6-4, 6-4 and wild card Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands upended seventh-seeded Aslan Karatsev of Russia 2-6, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (0). Russian Karen Khachanov and Italian Lorenzo Musetti advanced in three-set wins, with Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands winning in straight sets.
Argentina Open
Sixth-seeded Federic Delbonis made short work of fellow Argentinian Juan Martin del Potro 6-1, 6-3 in Buenos Aires at the Argentina Open.
Fellow countryman Sebastian Baez defeated Denmark’s Holger Rune 7-6 (4), 6-3.
Spain might have made the biggest waves of the day, however, as Jaume Munar (6-4, 6-4), Roberto Carballes Baena (7-6 (2), 6-2), Pedro Martinez (6-2, 6-4) and Pablo Andujar (6-2, 6-4) all emerged victorious Tuesday. No. 7 seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas, also of Spain, was upset by Brazil’s Thiago Monteiro, 6-3, 6-3.
Dallas Open
Canada’s Vasek Pospisil easily dispatched local wild-card entrant Caleb Chakravarthi, needing less than an hour to prevail 6-1, 6-0 in the first round at Dallas.
Chakravarthi, a 23-year-old California native, is a senior at SMU in Dallas. Pospisil, who is ranked 150th in the world, never faced a break point in the match.
Other first-round winners were seventh-seeded Marcos Giron and Jack Sock, both of the United States, plus Australia’s Jordan Thompson, Great Britain’s Liam Broady, Germany’s Cedrik-Marcel Stebe and Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka. Austria’s Jurij Rodionov upset sixth-seeded Maxime Cressy of the United States 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-1.
–Field Level Media
