Tsitsipas loses marathon tiebreak but wins second round to advance in Toronto

New world No 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas overcame the disappointment of losing five match points in an epic second set tiebreaker against Ugo Humbert to win in three sets and advance to the third round of the National Bank Open in Toronto on Tuesday.

After winning the first set, Tsitsipas looked set for a straight-sets win as he created five match point opportunities for himself. However, Humbert fought back to stave off each one of them, and went on to win the marathon tie-break 15-13 in 22 minutes. The Greek player bounced back to win the deciding set 6-1 and advance to the round of 16.

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The win was Tsitsipas’ 43rd tour win of the season – the most by any player on the tour in 2021 and was some of revenge for the Greek player, who saw his hopes of an Olympic medal in Tokyo end at the hands of the 27th ranked Frenchman.

Tsitsipas will go on to face either 15th seed Aslan Karatsev or Karen Khachanov in the third round. Khachanov, the silver medalist at Tokyo, defeated Cameron Norrie in a tough three-setter to set up with match against his countryman.

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