Swiss victory puzzles a confused Tsitsipas

Stefanos Tsitsipas returned to the Swiss Indoors for the first time in half a decade and scored what he called a “weird” win to struggle into the second round on Tuesday.

The victory in Basel which went for well over two and a half hours featured multiple momentum shifts, with the Greek third seed ready for a straight set win but ultimately needing three to overcome Francisco Cerundolo 6-3, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (4). 

Tsitsipas remained puzzled as to how he got through after missing on nine of his 12 break point chances against the Argentine.

He squeezed out victory with a fightback in the final-set tiebreaker: Cernudolo missed on a drop shot to hand over the first two match points of a long eveng. and hit the net on the first to finally end the marathon.

“I guess I was lucky at the end,” Tsitsipas said. “It’s one of those matches where you wonder how you did it.

“I felt a bit off during the entire match but at the end I relaxed and did not make demands on myself.

“It was a weird feeling being out there, everything was fluctuating.

The 26-year-old added: “I was in full control until (late in) the second set; everything was going smoothly.

“My serving was precise and I was making great plays. Suddenly everything shifted and I was not in control of the match – I felt I was playing worse.. 
felt I was playing worse.

“I wondered what was happening.”

Tsitsipas ended with 26 winners while his opponent struck 32 unforced errors.

He has defeated his last 11 Argentine opponents, a streak dating to January, 2022.