TennisNH

Tsitsipas Begins March Towards Marseille Three-Peat

11-Mar-2021 19:59:00 | ATP World Tour

Stefanos Tsitsipas has won back-to-back titles in Marseille. On Thursday, the Greek star made a good start towards securing a three-peat.

Tsitsipas defeated former World No. 10 Lucas Pouille 6-2, 6-3 in 64 minutes to reach the quarter-finals of the Open 13 Provence.

“I figured [the tactics] out from early on and brought the top of my game,” Tsitsipas said in his on-court interview. “[I] haven’t played Lucas in a long time. Last time we practised in Australia [in 2019 and] I remember that year we both [made] the semis… It’s very unfortunate for him that he was injured for a long time. I think he deserves to be playing at the highest stage and his game has proved itself many times in the past.

“I knew going into the match that I was expecting difficulties. He has experience on the Tour, he has played great players, had great victories. I was dealing with a player with experience and a player who reads the game pretty well and knows his strengths.”

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The second seed broke Pouille’s serve four times to take a 2-0 lead in their ATP Head2Head series. Tsitsipas won 86 per cent of his first-serve points and never found himself in trouble against the Frenchman, who had right elbow surgery last July. This was Pouille’s third tour-level match since Shanghai in October 2019.

“I’ve been playing well, I’ve been feeling well on court. I think for him it’s not easy. He hasn’t played a lot of matches and it’s difficult to find your steps and adjust straight away, especially playing players in the Top 10, it’s not easy,” Tsitsipas said. “[I’m] just trying to stay humble, it doesn’t matter where I’m standing in the [FedEx] ATP Rankings. Every opponent is a serious task. Each one of them has played matches in the past against top players and it’s rare that you find players without experience playing at this level.”

Tsitsipas will next play another home favourite in Pierre-Hugues Herbert, who beat Brit Cameron Norrie 6-3, 6-4. Herbert also ousted former World No. 4 Kei Nishikori in straight sets in the first round. He will take confidence from winning his only previous ATP Head2Head match against the Greek in Shenzhen three years ago.

“I’ve played Pierre in the past. He has a very difficult game. He comes to the net, serves pretty well,” Tsitsipas said. “I’m expecting a different style than the one I got today. He will be very aggressive. I think that’s something that I have to expect and he goes for his shots.”