World No. 7 Stefanos Tsitsipas returned to the European Open in Antwerp as the top seed and produced a fine performance to knock out Botic van de Zandschulp 7-5, 6-3 in the Round of 16 clash.
“It took some time. I didn’t have the best start that I would have expected, but what a great way to end it! I was trying to get in there despite the early break and found a really good way through towards the very end. I felt like every point was a fight; in every game, there was an opportunity to do something. I was trying to maintain that consistency and work towards the victory,” Tsitsipas said.
It was a pleasant victory for the Greek, who had not won two singles matches in a tournament since capturing the Los Cabos crown in August. In the quarterfinals on Friday, he will face fifth seed Yannick Hanfmann, who defeated Dominic Thiem 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 to end the day’s action in Antwerp. Tsitsipas improved to 14-5 in first-round matches this season after rallying from a 2-4 deficit in the first set against van de Zandschulp. From that point on, the Greeks won nine of 11 games to seize control of the centre court. While neither player maintained his best level for lengthy stretches, Tsitsipas improved throughout the one-hour, 36-minute encounter and easily won thanks to a powerful serving. He didn’t face a break point in the second set after saving four of five in the first. Earlier, Hugo Gaston of France saved three match points to defeat second seed Jan-Lennard Struff. 5-7, 7-6(5), 7-6(11). Gaston won on his fourth match point after saving 12 of 16 break points in the nearly three-hour contest.
