Stefanos Tsitsipas put an emphatic end to a two-match losing streak with a strong opening performance on Wednesday at the Western & Southern Open. The Cincinnati fourth seed rode a dominant serving performance and clean hitting to a 6-3, 6-3 win against Filip Krajinovic to earn his first victory in two events since Wimbledon.
The Greek was downed by Nick Kyrgios in a memorable third-round encounter on the London lawns and fell victim to an upset bid from #NextGenATP Briton Jack Draper last week in Montreal. But after two tough holds to open his Cincinnati campaign, he found a groove on serve and off the ground to power past Krajinovic behind two mid-set breaks.
Tsitsipas scored six love service holds, including each of his final four service games, and dropped just three points on first serve in the one-hour, nine minute match. He finished with a pristine 92 per cent (34/37) win rate on first serve while making 76 per cent of his first deliveries. In a clean match all around, the Greek hit 28 winners (including 14 aces) to just four unforced errors as he outclassed his opponent on Court 3.
The two-time Cincinnati semi-finalist also excelled in the INSIGHTS: Conversion metric, which shows that he won 81 per cent (17/21) of points in which he gained an attacking advantage against Krajinovic. Conversely, he also had a big edge in the Steal metric, winning 29 per cent of points from defence to his opponent’s 19 per cent.
Tsitsipas will next face 13th seed Diego Schwartzman, who outlasted Aslan Karatsev 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-2 on Tuesday evening.