Stefanos Tsitsipas, 5th in the world, qualified for the second round of Roland-Garros on Sunday but he was hot against the Czech comeback Jiri Vesely (455th) whom he finally dismissed 7-5, 6-3, 4-6 , 7-6 (9/7).
“It was quite stressful. But I said to myself no chance of going to the fifth set, ”admitted the 24-year-old Greek who had to save four set points in the tie-break of the fourth set before concluding on his first match point.
“I’m not going to lie, he gave me a lot of trouble. This victory is very important to me,” he added.
The finalist for the 2021 edition, who is one of the main outsiders in a private tournament for Rafael Nadal, will face the Spaniard Roberto Carballes (57th) or the American Emilio Nava (242nd and from the qualifications) in the next round.
Facing Vesely, who was still ranked 66th last August but dropped in the standings with a hamstring injury, Tsitsipas was hung up in the first set where he was broken to trail 3-1.
The 29-year-old Czech, who hasn’t played on the main circuit since the US Open last year and has only played two Challenger tournaments since returning to competition last month, served for the set winner at 5-4, but Tsitsipas chained three games, including two breaks, to win the set.
He then dominated the second set but conceded the only break in the third to allow Vesely to regain hope.
The latter then stood up to the Greek in the fourth set and got four set points in the tie-break, including three in a row at 6/3, but without managing to achieve any.
