Stefanos Tsitsipas has clinched his first ATP trophy of 2023 at the Los Cabos Open after defeating Australia’s Alex de Minaur in straight sets.
The world No.5 rallied to a 6-3, 6-4, win in just under 90 minutes to claim his first title in over a year and his 10th overall. Against de Minaur, the Greek hit 16 winners against just six unforced errors and won 82% of his first service points. Although Tsitsipas was broken once in each set by his opponent.
“I feel like both of us wanted to go out on the court today and show a great final,” Tsitsipas said during his on-court interview. “I feel like it was a great match. Alex showed great tennis, I tried to keep up with the level as much as I could. I’m really happy we were able to deliver a great final today. I think that is the thing that stands out the most. It was a great match and the crowd, as always, was fully present and engaged.”
Tsitsipas’ route to the title saw him drop only one set in four matches played which was in the quarter-finals against Nicolas Jarry. He also scored wins over John Isner and Borna Coric. So far this season, the Greek has recorded a total of 39 wins against 13 losses on the Tour.
The latest victory has also created a new milestone in Tsitsipas’ career with it being the first time he has won a ATP event held on a outdoor hard court. Coming into this week, he had a 0-7 record in outdoor hard court finals. Furthermore, de Minaur is the first player on the Tour he has beaten 10 times in the main draw. The only time he lost to the Australian was back in 2017 when they played a qualifying match at the Surbiton Challenger.
There will be little time for Tsitsipas to rest with the Canada Masters about to start where he is seeded fourth in the singles tournament and has also entered to play in the doubles draw. He will be hoping to fair better at the event than last year when he crashed put in the second round to Jack Draper.
