Second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas needed to get down in the mud over hold off a fearsome French spoiler, with the second seed squeezing out a 6-7 (6), 6-4, 7-6 (3) defeat of Gregoire Barrere to win his first match of the grass season on Monday,
The opening-round thriller at the ATP Halle event was a closely fought battle, with the Greek dropping the opening set and going down a break in the second to his 58th-ranked opponent.
The victory in two and a half hours featured 16 aces from the seed while the 28-year-old challenger saved 10 of 12 break points.
Tsitsipas moved into the second round and a date with Chilean Nicolas Jarry, who defeated Corentin Moutet 6-3, 7-5.
Tsitsipas finally earned grass success after losing to France’s Richard Gasquet last week in Stuttgart, his first grass match of the season.
“Everyone wants a Cinderella story, where I win in two sets,” he said. “But today was about winning ugly, getting it dirty on the court.
“It wasn’t as smooth as anyone could have imagined, My opponent was pushing, playing deep. I had a few lapses and was not able to return serve at times.”
The ATP No. 5, who has never been past the Wimbledon fourth round, added: “I need to keep on working. It won’t come unluess I put in the hours on the court.
“I tried to give 100 per cent, but sometimes you are playing with less expectations.
“He had most of the pressure,he had to try and close it out, try to win.
