On Wednesday evening Stefanos Tsitsipas showed his mastery on clay when he stormed past France’s Benoit Paire in the second round of the Mutua Madrid Open.
The Frenchman, who played despite an abdominal injury, tried everything he could, but Tsitsipas was at the top of his game, reported atptour.com. The Greek put on a dominant display to come out a 6-1,6-2 winner after 54 minutes of play.
His latest victory has made the Greek a force on the ATP Tour this year. He has won 27 ATP Tour -level matches, a feat matched only Andrey Rublev. Last month, Tsitsipas he won his first ATP Masters 1000 title at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters.
In Wednesday’s game, Tsitispas played his usual aggressive game to take an early lead while Paire struggled to find consistency.
READ MORE: The Fresh Prince of Monaco: Tsitsipas wins first Masters 1000 title in Monte Carlo
At the end of the first set, Paire was visited by his coach and the Frenchman removed the kinesio tape that was strapped to his abdomen. It did not help the three-time ATP Tour champion even with his variety of controlled drop shots and smart play at the net. Tsitsipas was quick to pounce on the Frenchman’s poor groundstrokes when he tried to be too aggressive from the baseline.
The Greek is proving to be hard to beat on clay. His record for 2021 stands at 10 wins to the one loss that he suffered which was against clay-court king Rafael Nadal at the Barcelona Banc Sadabell final last month.
Tsitsipas will next face Casper Ruud, who was in the semi-finals at Monte Carlo. Ruud beat Japan’s left hander Yoshihito Nishioka 6-1, 6-2.
It will be the first time that Tsitsipas and Ruud will clash in an ATP Head2Head meeting.