Greek Tennis sensation Stefanos Tsitsipas defended his Monte Carlo Masters title by beating Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in straight sets on Sunday. Tsitsipas clinched the game by 6-3, 7-6 (3) to win his second ATP 1000 Masters title.
Tsitsipas was able to break the Spaniard’s serve in the eighth game of the opening set when Fokina hit the cross backhand out. In fact, the Greek had a chance to close the match when he was serving at 5-4 in the second set but Fokina was able to force the set into the tiebreaker after breaking Tsitsipas’ serve.
However, Tsitsipas was able to clinch the match in the tiebreaker after one hour and 34 minutes to make a perfect start to the clay-court season.
“He fought in moments I didn’t expect him to fight,” Tsitsipas said. “He can hit incredible winners out of nowhere and play unpredictably. But I was able to minimise that. I knew he would be a dangerous opponent but that is a great win for me. I think we will see great results from him in the future.”
With this win, Tsitsipas also wrote his name in the record books as he has become the sixth player to win back-to-back Monte Carlo titles in the Open Era joining Rafael Nadal (2005-12, 2016-18), Juan Carlos Ferrero (2002-03), Thomas Muster (1995-96), Bjorn Borg (1979-1980) and Ilie Nastase (1971-1973).
Tsitsipas also lauded Fokina for his fighting approach on the court as the Spaniard gave a run for the money to his opponent.
“He fought in moments I didn’t expect him to fight,” Tsitsipas said. “He can hit incredible winners out of nowhere and play unpredictably. But I was able to minimize that. I knew he would be a dangerous opponent but that is a great win for me. I think we will see great results from him in the future.”
Tsitsipas will now climb to the second position in the ATP rankings on Monday after his fantastic win.
Leave a comment
Link Dafabet