Stefanos Tsitsipas eases through as seeds shine at Western & Southern Open

Dejan Kalinic

•
Stefanos Tsitsipas eases through as seeds shine at Western & Southern Open image

Stefanos Tsitsipas resumed his season in style at the Western & Southern Open on a good Sunday for the seeds.

Tsitsipas charged into the third round at the ATP 1000 tournament, which is usually played in Cincinnati but is being held in New York amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The Greek was one of six seeds to win through at what is the first ATP event since the season was suspended in March due to COVID-19.

David Goffin, Grigor Dimitrov and Karen Khachanov were also among the winners on Sunday.

 

TSITSIPAS EASES THROUGH

Tsitsipas needed just over an hour to crush South African Kevin Anderson 6-1 6-3.

The 22-year-old fourth seed, a semi-finalist at the Australian Open last year, converted four of six break points in a comfortable win.

A two-time grand-slam finalist, Anderson missed a large part of last year due to knee and elbow injuries.

STRONG DAY FOR SEEDS IN NY

Goffin, the seventh seed and last year's runner-up, was forced into a battle before overcoming Borna Coric 7-6 (8-6) 6-4 in the second round.

The Belgian was tested before becoming the sixth seed to advance on Sunday.

Dimitrov, the 2017 champion who tested positive for COVID-19 in June, was among them thanks to a 6-3 6-4 win over Ugo Humbert in the opening round.

Khachanov had few problems in a 6-4 6-4 win over Alexander Bublik, while 2013 runner-up John Isner and Diego Schwartzman recorded straight-sets victories over Hubert Hurkacz and Casper Ruud respectively.

 

RUBLEV, GARIN NOT SO LUCKY

However, two seeds did fall as Andrey Rublev (10) and Cristian Garin (13) made first-round exits.

Rublev was edged by Dan Evans 7-5 3-6 6-2 in an encounter that lasted more than two and a half hours.

In another marathon clash, Garin was outlasted by qualifier Aljaz Bedene 6-4 6-7 (8-10) 6-0 after almost three hours.

Dejan Kalinic