Stefanos Tsitsipas won his opening match at the #NextGen-Masters in Milan. The favourite Greek beat Jaume Munar from Spain in four sets.
Actually one of the ideas of the #NextGen-Master is to reduce the playing time of a tennis match compared to regular tour games. Sets to four, plus tiebreaks won by the first player to score five points – two points ahead, of course.
Well, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Jaume Munar have led this idea right at the beginning of the second edition of the Junior Master ad absurdum, battled for 1:52 hours, until Tsitsipas after a 4:3 (5), 4:3 ((3), 3:4 (4) and 4:2 as the winner was determined.
In Milan the Greek is the best ranked player in the ATP world rankings, in Group A Frances Tiafoe from the USA and Hubert Hurkacz from Poland also play. Australian Alex de Minaur is the favourite in Group B. He faces Andrey Rublev from Russia, American Taylor Fritz and local hero Liam Caruana.
Alexander Zverev and Denis Shapovalov are not at the start: The German number one has qualified for the ATP Final in London, the Canadian canceled due to exhaustion.