Australian Open: Tsitsipas bends Kokkinakis, Berrettini too
Stefanos Tsitsipas and Matteo Berrettini have reached the third round of the Australian Open. The Greek had to go over five sentences. Tsitsipas won 6: 7 (5), 6: 4, 6: 1, 6: 7 (5) and 6: 4.
by tennisnet.com
last edit: Feb 11, 2021, 09:28 am
When it got really tight in the fourth set, Stefanos Tsitsipas also issued a warning about coaching. Thanasi Kokkinakis was fighting for his sporting survival, trying to make up a 4-5 deficit. What he initially succeeded in doing after more than three hours - Kokkiniakis, who had to deal with injuries again and again in recent years, fended off Tsitsipas' first match point with a strong serve, equalizing to 5: 5.
Tsitsipas appeared far more confident as a server in this phase. What, however, did not help him much in the tiebreak of four: The Greek opened with a double fault, and subsequently made a few slight mistakes. And suddenly found himself confronted with a 1: 5 deficit. Tsitsipas equalized to 5: 5, Nick Kyrgios , who supported his buddy and doubles partner Kokkinakis in the Rod Laver Arena, was still satisfied a few moments later: A longline passing ball gave Tsitsipas no chance to equalize the set.
Berrettini delivers the sentence
The decision started as a frustrating one for Stefanos Tsitsipas: Although he developed two break chances, Kokkinakis scored four points in a row. A few minutes of the same game: Again the local hero had massive problems on his own serve, had to start seven times - and still took a 2-1 lead. It was clear that this would not work in the long term. And so Tsitsipas got the fifth break in the match with his 22nd chance. More than an hour after his first match point, Stefanos Tsitsipas worked out a second option after 4:32 hours of play, and exploited it with a strong serve.
Tsitsipas will play against Mikael Ymer on Saturday. The Swede defeated the newly promoted Spanish Carlos Alcaraz Garfia in four sets.
Matteo Berrettini, however, had little trouble in the parallel game. The Italian, who defeated Dominic Thiem and Gael Monfils at the ATP Cup, won against the Czech qualifier Tomas Machac 6: 3, 6: 2, 4: 6 and 6: 3. The next task will be more challenging: Karen Khachanov will try her hand at Berrettini.
Here is the individual tableau at the Australian Open
laver arena