Vienna Open: Stefanos Tsitsipas beats Novak, to face Coric in second round

Stefanos Tsitsipas. Pic/AFP

World No 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas beat home favourite Dennis Novak in the opening round of the Vienna Open, here on Wednesday.

In a 7-6(2), 6-2 victory against Novak, the second-seeded Greek instantly recovered a mid-set break in the opening set. After two straight love holds, Tsitsipas was broken to love as he fell behind 3-4.

He then let slip a 0/40 opening in the ensuing game before converting on his fourth break chance and never looked back, dominating the second set to advance to the second round for the third straight year in the Austrian capital.

The victory sets up a rematch of the Cincinnati final, which he lost to Borna Coric. The Croatian earned a three-set win against France's Quentin Halys on Monday.

Tsitsipas leads the ATP Tour with 57 match wins this season and is also co-leader (with Carlos Alcaraz) with seven finals, including runs to the title match each of the past two weeks in Astana and Stockholm.

Also read: Stockholm Open: Stefanos Tsitsipas surges into final with win over Emil Ruusuvuori

Sitting third in the ATP Live Race To Turin, the 24-year-old has already secured his fourth straight trip to the Nitto ATP Finals, an event he won in his 2019 debut.

Sixth seed Jannik Sinner also advanced on Wednesday, easing to a 6-3, 6-2 win against Cristian Garin. The Italian improved to 27-8 on hard courts this season, including quarter-final runs at the Australian Open and US Open.

Seeking to better his run to the 2021 Vienna semis, Sinner will next met Francisco Cerundolo. At 15th in the Race, trailing the seventh-placed Felix Auger-Aliassime by nearly 900 points, Sinner will likely need to sweep the titles in both Vienna and Paris to have a chance of qualifying for Turin.

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