Stefanos Tsitsipas had to dig deep to win his opening match at the Cincinnati Open, coming back to defeat 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 against Jan-Lennard Struff.
The Greek finally got his North American hard-court campaign going after a shock opening-round defeat at the Canadian Open.
Tsitsipas rallied from a set and a break down, creating plenty of opportunities on return across the second and third sets.
He converted three of 14 break points in his one-hour, 57-minute triumph.
“I felt like I was in a great flow state towards the end of the match with my serve,” the 26-year-old said in his post-match interview.
“Immediately my groundstrokes improved, immediately my confidence to come forward and close in improved, so there were a lot of improvements that contributed to my game today.
“I was down a break, and I managed to keep on fighting and get the break back. Suddenly I felt like I was starting to figure out what really worked behind his serve.
“He made a few double faults, and I took that chance, got myself in the lead, and I think once I started reminding myself of my best qualities as a player, these things really started working on court. It gave me a massive push to [close out the match].”
It was a stark contrast to how he performed in the opening set, sensing he would not emerge victorious if he kept playing the way he was, Tsitsipas’s shot quality lifted drastically.
Shot quality analysis of the first 14 games saw him have a 7.7 serve, 4.8 return, 6.8 forehand and 4.8 backhand. These all lifted in the last 15 games to a 9.1, 6.2, 9.7 and 6.9 respectively.
The top ranked Greek will be hoping to better his 2022 run in Cincinnati where he reached the final. He will face Jack Draper in his second-round clash.
This was also his first event since announcing the end of his coaching relationship with his father Apostolos Tsitsipas.
