Tsitsipas, Sinner Advance In Barcelona; Alcaraz v RBA Tomorrow
Second-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas won in his debut in Barcelona topping Pedro Cachin of Argentina 6-4, 6-2. The Greek star lost just 5 points on first serve and never faced a break point.
“I was able to bring good tennis out there on the court,” said Tsitsipas. “I kept mixing it up. I kept being very aggressive, more than I’m used to, so the whole evaluation is positive. I’m happy with how things evolved over the course of the match.
“It’s one of those matches I was able to figure out from early on, keep up with the pace, and anything that was being thrown at me I was reacting to it very positively and being very smooth on the court.”
No. 4 Jannik Sinner advanced past the struggling Diego Schwartzman in straights 6-2, 6-4. Sinner took six straight games at one point and cruised at the end.
“I think I started very well, especially in return games,” said Sinner. “I tried to stay quite aggressive, made a couple of unforced errors, but I have to remind myself that this is the first round for me. I tried to stay calm and obviously try in the best way in important moments.
“Now the main focus is to recover for tomorrow, and I restart tomorrow hopefully with better feelings than today. Diego is a very tough player to play against and I am very happy.”
Also, No. 6 Karen Khachanov eliminated Nicolas Jarry 6-4, 6-4. No. 7 seed Cameron Norrie rolled by ousted Russia’s Pavel Kotov 6-1, 6-2. The 8th-seeded Alex De Minaur enjoyed a comfortable win over Alexander Shevchenko of Russia 6-0, 6-1.
Lorenzo Musetti, Denis Shapovalov and Grigor Dimitrov also were winners.
Thursday’s slate boasts third round play with No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz taking on No. 13 Roberto Bautista Agut. Alcaraz took their sole battle at the 2022 Indian Wells Masters.
Tsitsipas returns to face Shapovalov. Shapovalov is ahead of Tsitsipas 3-1 in their tour-level encounters winning most recently at the 2020 ATP Cup.
No. 3 Casper Ruud will meet No. 15 Francisco Cerundolo. And Sinner takes Nishioka.
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