The Erste Bank Open have lost their number 1 in the round of last 32: Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) bowed out to American qualifier Frances Tiafoe in three sets after winning the first set and a 3-0 lead in the deciding set.
Tsitsipas easily took the first set 6-3, but Tiafoe clawed his way back into the match in the second, winning it also 6-3.
See-saw battle
The third set was a real nail-biter. Tsitsipas seemed to turn the momentum again, springing out to a 3-0 lead, but Tiafoe never gave up, got the re-break and broke Tsitsipas again. After 1:49 hours the American converted his first match point to take the set 6-4 and thus the match. “I always believed that I was still in the match, even when I threw the racket”, Tiafoe explained afterwards. “I also served really well today, the break in the first was just a bit unlucky.”
Tsitsipas said after the match: “I just wasn’t as good a player in the second and third, as I was in the first set. Everything was lacking: execution, psychology. All that stuff.”