Stefanos Tsitsipas earnt the biggest win of his career against Pablo Cuevas 6-1 6-4 to advance to the second round in Antwerp.
The talented 19 year old stormed to victory as he only lost six points on his 1st serve as he advance down to the second round in Antwerp. The win means it is Tsitsipas’s best victory of his career as he looks to make his major breakthrough inside the World’s top 100.
However for the sixth seeded Uruguayan it is now eight losses in a row and his last win came at Roland Garros. It will be deeply worrying for Cuevas as he had a fantastic start to the season, however injuries have cost his confidence and form. Tsitsipas will now play Ivo Karlovic in the second round.
Seventh and eighth seeds Benoit Paire and Alexandr Dolgopolov also felt the seeded curse as they were eliminated by Joao Sousa and Henri Laaksonen respectively. Despite hitting 15 aces, Paire lacked that cutting edge as he went out to Sousa 4-6 7-6(3) 7-5 in a thrilling contest in Belgium. Sousa will now play Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky in the second round.
However Alexandr Dolgopolov will not make it two Ukrainians in the second round as he was defeated by Henri Laaksonen 6-2 7-6(5) in just under 1 hour and 20 minutes. Laaksonen only two points on his first serve as he dominated proceedings on Court One. Laaksonen will now play Julien Benneteau in the second round.
Here are today’s other results:
Frances Tiafoe beat Florian Mayer 6-3 6-4
Ernesto Escobedo beat Denis Shapovalov 7-6(5) 6-4
David Ferrer beat Stefano Travaglia 4-6 6-4 7-6(3)
Kenny De Schepper def Aldin Sektic 6-2 6-1
