Top-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas and title holder Felix Auger-Aliassim easily advanced to the second round of the Rotterdam ATP 500 tournament on Tuesday.
Tsitsipas, who lost in the Australian Open final to Novak Djokovic, took just over an hour and a half to beat Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori 7-5, 6-1.
The Greek, ranked third in the world, will face the winner of Wednesday’s match between Yannick Sinner and France’s Benjamin Bonzi.
Tsitsipas admitted that at first it was difficult for him to find his way.
“In the last game (when Ruusuvuori led 5-3) I had the opportunity to bounce back. I recovered from that, regained amazing tennis and won that first set that was crucial,” he said.
“I think from that point on it was flawless tennis. I was able to make some really good shots.”
Auger-Aliassime, who finished third in Rotterdam, had no trouble squashing Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego 6-2, 6-3 as he made it big in the tournament where he beat Tsitsipas in the final last year.
In the next round, the 22-year-old Canadian must defeat another Frenchman, Grégoire Barrere, who eliminated David Goffin in the first round.
Pole Hubert Hurkacz, ranked 10th in the world, defeated veteran Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut in a three-hour event.
Alexander Zverev, who is still in the recovery phase from injury at the French Open last year, beat South Korea’s Sungwoo Kwon 6-4, 7-6 (7/4).
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Source: sports.yahoo.com
